In February, a scary internet hoax called The Momo Challenge made it’s way into the hearts and minds of middle schoolers, and many wish that it hadn’t.

According to the “New York Times,“ Momo is a Japanese doll who supposedly spread from Facebook to popping up in the middle of Peppa Pig and Fortnite videos. It is not an ad. Reportedly, it would simply just appear in the video without warning. It is aimed for little children, because they wouldn’t know that Momo is fake, and it would pop up in front of the videos they’re watching.

According to ABC News, after Momo infiltrated the video, Momo would tell them to inflict harm on themselves. An example of the harm Momo would tell the kids would be to hurt themselves or to leave a kitchen burner on that could lead to a fire or a gas leak.

The way that Momo would tell kids to do these things would be it would be cut into the video and the video would stop. Then ominous music would start playing with shadows appearing behind trees and the doll’s face would be pasted on the shadows. Through a cheap animation, the mouth of the doll would be cut off and a the color black would fill the gap in between the mouth and the head. A creepy voice would speak, possibly saying, “Hi. I am Momo. I want to play with you.”
But all these details and reports are the result of a viral legend.

“The Atlantic,” “Vox,” CNN all report that there is no evidence that any of this has taken place—Momo, as a game, isn’t real.
But real fear swept across Bedford and the country like wildfire. Everyone who did not already know now knows about the cursed challenge that has plagued social media. If you ask someone about Momo, they will probably say that they knew about Momo.

The story of Momo was not very original. It originated from another story of similar structure. “The Ring” was a film made in 2002. “The Ring” was a movie about a dead girl who would haunt you from a VHS tape. The story of Momo is almost the same. She contacts you through a screen and tells you to do dangerous things, just like the dead girl from “The Ring,” except Momo doesn’t really come for you.

“It was a Japanese statue. Momo was just a regular truth or dare game. It could be little things, such as ding dong ditching someone, or it could be really dangerous like self-harm. It’s kinda dumb because I know it’s not real, and kids should know that too. Like, after watching a scary movie, you know it’s not real but it scares you,” said Liam Donaldson, a 7th grader from BMS.

“I think Momo is horrible. It introduces young students to the idea of suicide and that it doesn’t address the seriousness of it. It makes suicide seem entertaining or casual,” said 8th grade BMS teacher, Mrs. Alison Antunovich. “I’m not scared of Momo myself, but I’m scared that my son will see it.”

“Do I hate it? Yes. Do I think it’s awful? Yes. Do I think it should be taken off the internet? Yes. Because there is nothing good to come of anyone doing that. I’m scared of how it impacts the kids who don’t know how to stand up for themselves and say no to these things,” said Mrs. Jessica Rabine, a BMS guidance counselor.