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My father always told me that there were no such things as ghosts, that they only existed in books and movies. So I generally think that people who claim to see spirits are, well, crazy.

When I saw an advertisement last week for a group called Ghostbusters Suruwangi Pro, I couldn’t help but think it was a big joke. Still, I was intrigued.

I decided to check out what these guys were all about, even if all I got out of it was a good laugh.

I was surprised to learn how lucrative ghostbusting could be, and I wondered if it was all just a big money-making scheme.

“We usually charge our clients between Rp 1.5 million and Rp 2 million [$160-$220] for each case, but prices vary, depending on the level of difficulty,” said ghostbuster David, also known as Davelavega.

Head ghostbuster Teguh “Suruwangi” Susilo, Davelavega and T Sugiarto met in a chat room for supernatural enthusiasts on Kaskus, an online forum. They found they had a lot in common and established the group in December last year.

I gave the ghostbusters a call and they invited me to join them on their next mission. I was excited to see some real-life ghostbusters in action. Would they have vacuum cleaners strapped to their backs? Did they have a theme song?

Not quite. The three 30-somethings sport much less intimidating outfits of jeans and matching red T-shirts when they go head-to-head with the supernatural.

We headed toward Kemayoran in Central Jakarta, stopping at Kampung Irian, a small village that is occupied by mostly low-income families. Here, families can’t afford the usual fee, so the group is performing the exorcism for free, as they often do for their poorer clients.

We arrived at the scene at around 4 p.m. to find the whole neighborhood had gathered to witness the exorcism.

“My house has been haunted for several months now,” said the team’s client, Heru, smoking a clove cigarette. He added that his wife had seen a ghost in the form of an old lady walking around their house.

“She’s become so paranoid. She’s scared of staying in the house by herself,” he said.

The family often heard the sound of children laughing on the roof at night.

“Our house has become so spooky and scary. I’m worried it will bring bad luck to the whole family,” Heru said.

Heru heard about Ghostbusters Suruwangi Pro from a neighbor, Ngadiyo, who was on hand this afternoon.

Ngadiyo’s experience was more haunting than his neighbor’s. He said that when he was in bed, he could see a ghost that looked just like him having sex with his wife.

Ngadiyo and his family would also see the ghost of an old lady at the entrance of their house. “Everybody was terrified,” he said. He called the ghostbusters and asked them to cast away any negative forces. Ngadiyo said the mission was a success, and that he and his family now lived in peace.

“I tried to cast the ghost away, but was never successful. These guys did it in less than 30 minutes,” he said.

Suruwangi claims that unlike other traditional exorcists in Indonesia, Ghostbusters Suruwangi Pro’s methods have a scientific basis.

“Most exorcists here use spells and other traditional methods, like burning incense. We don’t do that,” he said.

But the three ghostbusters are by no means science scholars. They studied their “science” mostly on the Internet.

Suruwangi said the team’s methods were based on parapsychology, which is the study of existence, psychic abilities and life after death.

Either way, I hoped they knew what they were doing, because it was time to enter Heru’s house.

I reluctantly followed Suruwangi and his assistant. I was both excited and terrified. I’ve never believed in ghosts, but preparing to go into Heru’s house gave me goose bumps nonetheless.

Most people call on his team to catch ghosts, Suruwangi said, but sometimes it’s not always ghosts that cause problems. For that reason, Ghostbusters Suruwangi Pro usually survey the location first.

“A negative environment can be caused by many things, like the wrong feng shui or people spreading negative energy to others,” he said.

Davelavega told me earlier that he had seen many houses with negative energy because of bad ventilation or a lack of sunlight. I remembered his words as I walked into Heru’s home, almost hoping it would be stuffy and poorly lit. It was. I felt a sense of relief. Great. No ghosts here.

I turned around and saw Davelavega in the distance. He couldn’t come into the house immediately because his energy is supposedly too strong. “The ghosts usually run away too quickly as I come closer,” he had told me, laughing.

Inside the house, Suruwangi reached into his pocket and pulled out a pendulum, used to detect ghosts. “I have to hold the pendulum still and let it show me where the energy is,” he said.

Suruwangi dangled the pendulum by its chain in front of his chest. It moved ever so slightly from left to right. I wasn’t sure whether it moved because of the wind or because of some other force, but Suruwangi certainly looked serious as he fixed the pendulum with a stare.

“Yes, I can feel it. Your house is indeed haunted,” he told Heru.

Enter the exorcist. Davelavega walked in, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“I feel a presence,” he said.

Out of nowhere, he began striking Bruce Lee-like kung fu poses. He moved his hands swiftly, making circular shapes, his eyes closed the entire time. As if he were performing some kind of tribal rain dance, he reached out to the sky and pulled something imagined back to his chest.

Suruwangi stood next to him, holding two empty glass bottles. Davelavega suddenly reached up into the air, grabbed something invisible, and pointed his hands to one of the bottles, supposedly “bottling the energy,” as Suruwangi explained.

Davelavega ran to the bathroom, from which he said he felt a strong negative force. Again, he broke out into his kung fu routine and bottled a ghost.

After catching a third ghost on the second floor, a sweaty Davelavega lay down on the floor, breathless

“It feels much better now,” Heru said. “Somehow, the house feels more peaceful.”

I certainly didn’t feel anything, but I didn’t have the heart to tell them that. “Yes, it does feel different,” I lied.

At the end of the exorcism, Davelavega and the assistant put their hands on Heru’s chest and neck to drain his negative energy and replace it with positive energy.

Whatever went on in that house, I certainly was not part of it. But that’s not to say ghosts don’t exist. Until I see or feel a ghost for myself, however, I’m happy to keep them in books and on TV, where my father wisely believes they belong.