Experts say parents should talk to their children about the “Momo Challenge”

47 ABC – A scary character by the name of “Momo” is targeting children. The character appears on YouTube, online games and other apps and encourages children to harm themselves or others.

“She does challenges like try to leave the stove on, don’t tell your mom,” said  Jack Thomas, an 8-year-old who first found Momo on an online game for kids called Minecraft.

But the “Momo Challenge” or challenges get even worse. Berkeley Donoway, a 7-year-old, tell us she first found out about Momo at a sleepover with girls from cheerleading.

“They were just chasing people saying this is Momo, the devil’s helper. She’s coming after all of you,” Berkeley said. To make matters worse the girls said if you don’t believe in Momo, she’ll come and kill you.

Berkeley also says Momo tells children to kill their family and to kill themselves. In some videos, she even tells children how to do it.

“(Momo said to) put a knife, like the tip of the knife by your neck and push it in,” Berkeley said.

Berkeley tells 47 ABC she’s seen Momo on apps that are supposed to be safe for children, like “YouTube Kids”.

Although we weren’t able to find Momo on the app, it didn’t take us long to find her videos on regular YouTube. There you can find videos of the “Momo Song” where a child’s voice sings things like, “Momo is going to kill you”.

As if that’s not terrifying enough, Momo’s herself is.

“She has like eyes that pop out and a big mouth,” Jack said.

Psychologists say that even though adults know Momo isn’t real, children may not. They add the image alone is enough to traumatize them and because of that parents should discuss the character with their children.

“They don’t necessarily have to see it on their tablet, ‘Sally my friend at school told me about it and I’m really scared’ that’s when you come in and have the conversation,” said psychologist Dr. Katy Seifert.

Conversations that parents say could be the silver lining in all of this.

“I would have never had this conversation with my 7-year-old had this not happened, now she knows that this isn’t real and if someone ever tells you again to hide something from me, it’s time for you to tell,” said Ashton Donoway.