Throughout the years, stories have filled the small communities of coal mining towns in Eastern Kentucky, whose lifeblood has always been the coal industry.

But a different story fills the air in Van Lear, a small community tucked away in Johnson County.

In Van Lear along the stretch of the road sits a museum. A place that houses a part of this community's history. But between the walls, you'll find something else... a ghost story.

"We hear walking all the time, we hear talking all the time. I've seen full-body apparitions," said Tina Webb, a museum volunteer.

The people who work at the coal miner's museum say they have no doubt spooks and specters are permanent visitors.

"It feels like a hand, and it grabs a hold of your arm" Webb said.

Webb said she has seen her share of strange happenings over the years.

"I've seen a man and he had a ball-cap on and he was just standing in our kitchen," she said.

Webb claims to have seen and heard so many strange things that she called up paranormal investigator Joe Clark.

"This by far is the most haunted place I've ever investigated," Clark said.

And Clark says he has the evidence to prove it.

"When we zoomed in on the photo there was an actual face of a man in the curtain over there," he said.

Why so haunted? This museum isn't just a tribute to the town's past, it was a major pat of it.

This museum was once the center of the city - when it was a prospering coal town. The whole community would walk right through these doors to see their boss, visit the doctor, or even buy something.

"Cause it had the post office and the bank. The doctor, dentist, barber, city offices, jail, masonic lodge, all the engineers for the mines," Webb said.

Clark suspects this once-busy town-center still houses the spirits of many who walked through these doorways.

"We always ask how many spirits are here, how many people are here, we always get different numbers... which kind of makes me believe this place is a portal," he said. "I don't know, maybe spirits come and go, I'm not sure."

That's why Clark continues to investigate the museum and why Tina Webb sometimes feels like an uninvited guest in her own museum.

"The only time that I back away is if I'm here by myself at night," Webb said.