It was John Kleen who wrote the book about the mothman. He was a paranormal researcher who was researching about UFOs in West Virginia in the town of Point Pleasant. It was in 1966 that the mothman appearances were witnessed by some people in the area. The Mothman Prophecies True Story was never revealed in the movie. The movie was filmed in 2002 as a psychological thriller film. The movie was starred by Richard Gere and Laura Linney. The script focuses on the personality of John Klein rather than the UFO sightings which was the main topic of the book.

The mothman sightings in real life was said to be first encountered by a young couple. The couple said that they saw the mothman swing in their car. It had red eyes and moth wings. At that time, John Kleen heard the talk of the town, and became interested to see and follow the real mothman. The Mothman Prophecies True Story was believed around the world to be an indicator of an upcoming or soon to happened disasters or catastrophic events. It seemed so believable because when the nuclear accident in Chernobyl Ukraine in 1986 there were reported sightings of the mothman prior to the incident and totally disappeared after, only proving The Mothman Prophecies True Story. The journalist who covered the story of the mothman was Mary Hyre. She stated in her report that it may be an owl that the young couple saw during that night in Point Pleasant. Owls can stand only two feet tall but can have a five feet long of wingspan.

The couple strongly disagrees with Mary Hyre's theory because the description of the owl is far different to what they had seen. There are lots of speculations and theories during that time. The witnesses also stated that they seemed to be in an alter time when they saw the mothman. They said that it was only seconds when the mothman passed over their car but they felt as if it was two hours long. There are reported paranormal activities during that time. Telephone calls were often static and people could only hear some screeching sounds. At the height of the mothman appearances there was a tragic event that happened in Point Pleasant. The bridge of the town known as the Silver Bridge was suddenly collapsed killing forty six people. The event made the people believed that the mothman was indeed a prophecy.