Australian girl, 3, traumatised by Momo threatening to ‘eat her mother’

A three-year-old girl was so traumatised by seeing the ‘viral hoax’ Momo challenge on YouTube that she wakes up screaming every night, her mother says.

Emily Vernon, from the NSW-Victoria border, became concerned by her daughter Maggie’s night terrors and asked what was scaring her.

‘For a whole week, Maggie was waking up at 3am screaming, crying and finding it really hard to get back to sleep,’ she said.

The terrified child burst into tears and refused to tell her until she pleaded with Maggie and promised she wouldn’t get hurt or in trouble.

‘I can’t tell you, mummy, or she will eat you,’ Maggie replied. ‘She has big eyes, and big zippy lips. But don’t tell her I said.’

Ms Vernon said Maggie eventually told her she saw the disturbing video on her mother’s iPad when she was watching children’s videos on YouTube.

‘She will not touch the iPad or the phone now in fear of seeing it again,’ the worried mother said.

‘Days later she is still talking about Momo and still having nightmares. She hasn’t wet the bed for over a year and last night she did. 

Momo, originally a sculpture by a Japanese artist whose image was allegedly hijacked by internet trolls, is used to scare children into committing self-harm in a ‘suicide game’

Ms Vernon said Maggie eventually told her she saw the disturbing video on her mother’s iPad when she was watching children’s videos on YouTube

‘I asked her what was bothering her and she said “the lady I saw on your iPad is making me have bad dreams”.

‘As a parent you only want what is best for your child. But when they see something that cannot be unseen, what do you do? How do you take away that kind of pain?’ 

There were widespread reports that images or video of the creepy character were being spliced into clips of children’s cartoons like Peppa Pig.

This allowed the alleged purveyors of the ‘suicide game’ to access children while their parents weren’t looking, in the hope of contacting them on WhatsApp. 

There were widespread reports that images or video of the creepy character were being spliced into clips of children’s cartoons like Peppa Pig (pictured)

However, YouTube later said it had ‘not received any recent evidence of videos showing or promoting the Momo challenge on YouTube’.

Despite the phenomenon now being frequently dismissed as a viral hoax, Ms Vernon insisted it was what her child saw, along with threats to her family.

‘Maggie described Momo quite accurately to me, without me promoting her at all. She is still very traumatised by it,’ she said.

Numerous Australian parents including TV presenter Rebecca Judd said Momo was being widely discussed in the schoolyard. 

What is the horrifying Momo challenge and where has it come from? 

The Momo challenge was first reported in July last year, and was described as a new ‘Blue Whale’ style suicide game. 

Children are encouraged to contact a number – freely available on social media and some online games – via the messaging service WhatsApp.

Violent images are then sent to the youngsters’ phones, with strangers setting a series of tasks that they must carry out, escalating in severity and including self-harm.

It is claimed that threats sent to youngsters include being ‘killed in their sleep’ or their families being murdered.

In WhatsApp messages and texts the children are told how to hurt someone – and the last post tells the victim to take their own lives.

Some parents have warned that a new version of the challenge are being spliced into online videos of popular children’s programmes such as Peppa Pig, terrifying even younger children.

There are also complaints about the hijacking of online games. Children wanting to quit the game are threatened with their personal details being leaked online. 

Momo’s features include a painfully gaunt face, bulging eyes and an unnaturally thin and long smile. 

In September a 12-year-old girl and 16-year-old boy in Colombia are said to have killed themselves after playing a Momo challenge game on WhatsApp.