As we close in on “All Hallows Eve” and the boundary between the living and the deceased dissolves, spine-tingling stories abound — and sometimes the place where they’re told is even scarier than the stories themselves.

Ripe with ghostly encounters and strange occurrences that should lend plenty of atmosphere, two unique Buffalo locations — the Iron Island Museum in Lovejoy and the Central Terminal, will host two chilling events: “Spirits & More Spirits,” a wine tasting on Saturday in the museum and a joint event on Oct. 30 that will bring professional ghost hunters into the mix. Let’s visit — if you dare.

Two words describe the Iron Island Museum: “creepy” and “unsettling.”

Would a person unaware of its history feel this entering the front door?

Probably yes.

Once owned by two totally different entities (a church from the late 1800s, then a funeral home in the 1950s), one can’t help but notice the strange connection — death and the hereafter.

It also appears its former occupants aren’t content to stay in the past.

In 2000, the Iron Island Preservation Society received the structure as a gift from Daniel and Molly Amigone. Since then, those who believe in the paranormal probably aren’t surprised to hear about the paranormal occurrences that started happening almost immediately after the society set up shop.

“My first experience was a man in the front hall,” says curator Marge Hastreiter. “He had a cap on like an immigrant. I didn’t think it was a real person. I don’t know what I saw. It was just there.”

Hastreiter says that the events happen so fast that there’s no time to even call someone else to see it. “Your heart just starts pounding.”

Hastreiter, whose daughter, Linda, is the president of the museum, says they’ve all had different experiences.

Walking through the front room of the museum, Marge Hastreiter recounts, “I’ve seen what we call the ‘Shadow Man’ about three or four times. I was working here on a scrapbook one day, and a man was standing next to the coat rack with a black cap on and red eyes. I didn’t stay that day. I went home early.”

Hastreiter says in the beginning she and others never compared notes, whether out of embarrassment or just not believing what they had seen. But once they did, the stories started to multiply.

In the military room, Hastreiter says that many people are drawn to one uniform in particular. It’s also the place where visitors have experienced unusual events.

“We finished a tour and this one man wanted to come back to the military room. When he was standing here, he felt a tug on his jacket. Another time, a little girl felt the same thing. We have her on security cameras turning her head and there is nothing there,” Hastreiter says.

She says “orbs” (which some believe represent the spirit of a departed individual) have appeared in pictures taken of that specific uniform on its shoulder. In the basement, one person caught what looks like crystal streaks in front of her camera with no explanation. A ball moving in the front room has been caught on tape.

While the sightings are one thing, the sounds — or EVP (electronic voice phenomenon) and “disembodied voice” — are an entirely different realm. Supposedly picked up by electronic equipment like a digital recorder or video recorder, EVPs are only heard after the fact, not during the actual event by the individual present. A disembodied sound is heard by a real person at the time it occurs. Both are eerie.

The strange events prompted Linda Hastreiter to contact the TV show “Ghost Hunters” on the SyFy channel. In 2008, members of the Atlantic Paranormal Society came to the museum to investigate and taped an episode of “Ghost Hunters.”

Since the airing, hundreds of people have come to the museum from more than 40 different states and five foreign countries.

While she acknowledges the fear the events have caused her, Hastreiter has an interesting affection, a soft side if you will, for the inhabitants of the museum.

She believes that most of the ghosts are from the church, but there is one who holds a special place in her heart from a more recent time — her son Jimmy, who was waked in the funeral home after losing a battle with pneumonia. Born in 1963, he was only 6.

“I always felt a presence here. One paranormal investigator told me Jimmy comes with me and goes home with me.”

Eerie events

“Spirits & More Spirits” wine, cheese and chocolate tasting and book signing from 1 to 6 p. m. Saturday in the Iron Island Museum. For $15, visitors receive a glass and guided ghost tour. Author Linda Zimmerman will be on hand for a presentation and to sign her new book “Ghost Investigator, Vol. 9,” which talks about the museum.

On Oct. 30, the Iron Island Museum and the Central Terminal will “co-ghost” an event with two nationally known paranormal experts — Chip Coffey, psychic medium from the A&E Channel’s “Paranormal State,” and Brian Harnois, an original member of “Ghost Hunters.”

The event is taking place thanks to Ryan Willard, computer guy by day, ghost hunter by night. “What better way to learn about history than to communicate with someone that was once alive,?” says Willard, founder of Western New York Ghost Hunters.

Also an avid preservationist and historian, Willard convinced the Central Terminal organization to hold ghost hunts following the episode of “Ghost Hunters” that had also investigated the terminal for its show. He saw it as a unique way to raise funds. Currently, his group is the only one authorized to run the hunts.

He admits all of the board members looked at him like he was a little strange, but he convinced them to hold a ghost hunt this past Memorial Day weekend with TAPS, where $16,000 was raised for what Willard says will help pay for things like fixing a leaky roof or broken stairs until major funding can be found to bring the terminal back to its former beauty.

Unlike the Iron Island Museum, Willard says the feeling at the terminal is different.

“It always has a welcoming feeling. It has a lot of energy. Think about the emotion there. People left for World War II and Vietnam. Some people said goodbye to loved ones they never saw again.”

Willard’s theory about places like the terminal is what he calls “residual energy” or “residual haunts,” where the wall have absorbed and kept a recording of what happened at the location.

“The energy has to go somewhere,” says Willard, who will be present for the Oct. 30 event, which starts at 4 p. m. at the Central Terminal.

There will be a meet-and-greet with Coffey and Harnois. Following lectures, the crowd will be split into different groups and shuttled between the Central Terminal and the Iron Island Museum to ghost hunt with both celebrities. After some time, they will be rotated. Cost to attend is $150 per person and the money goes toward a good cause.

“One hundred percent of the money will be donated to the buildings once the guest fees are paid for,” says Willard.

Tickets to “Spirits & More Spirits” or “The Halloween Ghost Hunt” are available at ironislandmuseum.com. The ghost hunt is not recommended for children under 12. The Iron Island Museum is located at 998 Lovejoy St., Buffalo (892-3084). The Buffalo Central Terminal is located at 495 Paderewski Drive. To learn more, also visit buffalocentralterminal.org or wnyghosthunters. com.