Antoine Cortis was on a “ghost hunt” in the White Rocks area when a bright light flashed right next to him and he pointed it out to two people in the same group.

When he listened to a recording later he heard himself tell them about the flash... and then he heard a voice repeat his words “bright light” in a drawn-out, breathy whisper.

“I froze. I was terrified. That was the day I started believing,” says Mr Cortis, a team member of Malta’s very own “ghost busters”– the Ghost Squad Malta.

Goose bumps spread over my arms as he recounted his first ghost experience while we sat in the empty, run-down Orpheum Theatre in Gżira – where I was joining the team on a hunt.

The voices seem to utter ‘go away’ and say the word ‘seven’ when asked how many there are

We walk into the back room and up the wide staircase, past a large gold-rimmed mirror, before we open the heavy door leading to the theatre’s gallery. We walk into the stepped area and the lights of the whole theatre are turned off.

It’s pitch dark except for the pin-size lights of the gadgets and cameras that will help detect “spirits” and communicate with them.

Drew Abela turns on the ghost box – a sort of radio used to communicate with spirits – and asks if there is anyone there.

There is a fuzzy, radio frequency sound that is broken occasionally by what sound like voices saying parts of words.

My sceptical side thinks the radio must be picking up scrambled parts of conversations from different channels.

But Paul Spiteri Lucas, the cameraman who is filming for timesofmalta.com, points out that the voices can only be heard when a question is asked. I am spooked.

The voices seem to utter “go away” and say the word “seven” when asked how many there are.

But, on the whole, the spirits present do not seem to be in a mood to mingle with mortals and – except for the “voices” and a quick flash on the EMF meter which detects changes in electro­magnetic field – nothing is visible.

Unlike the Ghostbusters movie and cartoon characters, the Ghost Squad Malta members do not go around with a pet ghost catching spirits with what looks like a vacuum cleaner.

What they do is try to detect the presence of spirits and produce evidence – the rest is up to a medium or exorcist.

The eight-man team was set up about four months ago by Mr Cortis and Mr Abela.

Both had been members of another group that investigated paranormal events but decided to branch out.

The other members are Jonathan Zammit, Andrew Frendo, John Mark Abela, Herman Pisani, Manuel Psaila and Alex Ehrhardt.

Most joined because they always had a fascination for the paranormal and wanted to learn and understand it more.

But Mr Psaila had different reasons. He had spent nearly two decades searching for an explanation for an experience he went through in 1995 when he was “possessed”.

The Ghost Squad Malta.

After questioning his psychological stability he tried to find scientific explanations for his experience and is now searching for replies in the paranormal.

The squad attempt to contact the unseen using a range of gadgets that include the EMF meter, temperature readers and the ghost box. They say they’ve detected various presences in public places – such as White Rocks and the Telgħa T’Alla u Ommu – as well as in private residences.

They claim to have communicated with spirits of all ages including children whom they often recognise from the young, playful voices.

The team organises talks and ghost huntsfor the public who want to experience something different. They, too, get scared occasionally after some experience during a hunt and I’m not surprised especially after they share a story that happened at the theatre I am in.

“A woman heard the words: ‘help me’ and asked the spirit how she could help. Drew told her she should never help a ghost as, otherwise, it would stick to her.

“Then, we hear the voice say: ‘ha ha ha’,” says Mr Cortis.

This was captured by the camera microphone, he says, adding that recording devices often pick up sounds that are not initially heard.

I dart a look at my voice recorder and dread the moment I will have to listen to it to write this story.

At least I know that, if I do hear a voice, I will know the answer to the question: “Who you gonna call?”