A Night of Fright is No Delight

A Night of Fright is No Delight is the sixteenth episode of the first season of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!.

Premise
Due to Scooby's heroics, he is included in the will of an eccentric millionare. Along with some other heirs, he will only get this fortune, however, if he spends the night in the Colonel's haunted mansion. It proves right when two green phantoms frighten the heirs away.

Synopsis
Scooby, Shaggy, Freddy, Daphne and Velma are boating across the ocean to a spooky mansion on an island. Scooby has been chosen as an heir to the late Colonel Beauregard Sanders, whom Scooby saved from drowning in a fish pond years before. It is a creepy night and there is thunder and lightning.

The Colonel's lawyer, Cosgood Creeps, comes to greet them and ushers them into the house. The gang meets the other four heirs, Cousin Slicker, Cousin Simple, Nephew Norble and Sweet Cousin Maldahyde. Cosgood tells the heirs that the only instructions from the Colonel was to play a record. The recording tells them they must stay the night to get the fortune. Creeps explains that the mansion is haunted, much to Scooby's and Shaggy's horror. The whole gang decides they’ll stay with Scooby.

Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby are getting ready for the night. Fred and Shaggy are in the bedroom while Scooby decides to take a bath. Fred tells Scooby to hurry up and he is scrubbing up when a ghost appears from a tile trapdoor. The bathtub slides through a secret passage and down a chute into a coal cellar with Scooby in it. While he is sitting on a pile of coal, a green, chain-rattling phantom shadow appears, laughing. Scooby is terrified and he breaks out of the basement. He frantically tries to explain what happened, but after seeing the bathtub in place and bolted to the floor, they dismiss it and go to bed.

The clock chimes midnight and a green ghost goes into Cousin Simple's room and stands over his bed, laughing. The gang wakes up and finds Cousin Simple gone. On a dusty mirror, a menacing message warns them to leave the island, signed the Phantom Shadow.

The gang decide to rig up a dummy of Scooby Doo to catch the ghost when he comes to grab the dummy. Scooby and Shaggy are watching from outside on the drainpipe, when suddenly the ghost pushes the drainpipe loose. Velma tries to help them, but gets pulled out of the window, too.

The drainpipe swings the three down into a cave which turns out to be a secret passage underneath the house. They find the Phantom Shadow’s footprints and decide to follow them. The footprints lead to a room with a stash of Civil War memorabilia. They find a wagon full of uniforms, and one starts flying and chasing them. It corners them in a elevator and Scooby starts growling and making faces at it. It turns out to be a duck and it flies away scared.

They go up in the elevator and it takes them to a secret entrance to Cousin Slicker’s room. Cousin Slicker is missing as well. The gang all meet up and realize that all of the other heirs are missing, and Scooby is the only remaining heir.

The gang follow the sound of an organ playing. They find the organ and then see something written down on a music book. It reads "Feed the organ, and watch the floor". Scooby plays the organ and the door locks and the walls begin to close in! Scooby starts playing as fast as he can and the walls stop. Velma deduces that Feed means notes. F-E-E-D. Playing the notes, a trapdoor opens and the gang climb down steps to the catacombs. There they see the heirs inside coffins, and one more coffin that is empty and dog shaped.

The Phantoms appear, only there are two, and they are not shadows! They all run as fast as they can. Scooby faints, but a Scooby Snack revives him. They continue running and finally hide in a chandelier, but the ghost cuts it and it falls to the floor. Separated, Scooby and Shaggy find a wine rack and use the corks as ammunition against the ghosts. They then run into a closet and emerge wearing dress clothes, set up a record player and start dancing with the ghosts. Leading them into the organ room, Shaggy opens the trapdoor and they send the ghosts falling into the basement.

After the gang meets up, Velma notices that Shaggy has gotten green paint on his hands. That gives Fred an idea. They devise a trap, including a fan, soap suds, a spring-loaded ironing board, and a washing machine. It backfires when Scooby turns on the fan too soon and the entire contraption goes airborne; however it still catches the phantoms, who are unmasked as Cosgood Creeps and his partner, Crawls. They were trying to scare all of the heirs off of the island so they could keep the million dollars to themselves. The bodies in the coffins were dummies and they painted themselves to be green ghosts. As the only heir still on the mansion grounds, Scooby inherits the million dollars, only to learn it's all worthless Confederate money. Then a floating bone materializes, but that's one thing that Scooby isn't afraid of.

Characters
Main characters:
 * Mystery Inc.
 * Scooby-Doo
 * Shaggy Rogers
 * Fred Jones
 * Daphne Blake
 * Velma Dinkley

Supporting characters:
 * Cousin Slicker
 * Nephew Norble
 * Cousin Simple
 * Sweet Cousin Maldahyde
 * Sheriff

Villains:
 * Green Ghosts
 * Cosgood Creeps
 * Mr. Crawls

Other characters:
 * Col. Beauregard Sanders
 * Goldfish
 * Duck

Locations

 * Beauregard Sanders's mansion
 * Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby's bedroom
 * Bathroom
 * Coal cellar
 * Cousin Simple's bedroom
 * Velma and Daphne's bedroom
 * Underground cave
 * Elevator
 * Cousin Slicker's bedroom
 * Catacombs
 * Wine cellar
 * Laundry room

Objects

 * Organ exercises
 * Shaggy Super Sandwich
 * Fish food
 * Scooby Snack
 * Wine bottles
 * Bone
 * Newspaper
 * Record
 * Record player
 * Fish bowl
 * Shaggy's sandwich bag
 * Salt and pepper shakers
 * Bathing brush
 * Soap
 * Bathtub
 * Fred's book
 * Coal
 * Cousin Simple's sleeping cap
 * Cousin Slicker's sleeping cap
 * Nephew Norble's sleeping cap
 * Sweet Cousin Maldahyde's sleeping cap
 * Organ
 * Coffins
 * Dummies
 * Chandelier
 * Corks
 * Telephone
 * Fan
 * Ironing board
 * Washing machine
 * Confederate dollars

Vehicles

 * Mystery Inc.'s boat
 * Tandem bicycle

Full credits
The following credits are how they are seen on-screen (or as close as possible).


 * Produced and Directed by: Joseph Barbera and William Hanna
 * Associate Producer: Lew Marshall
 * Story: Ken Spears, Joe Ruby, Bill Lutz
 * Story Direction: Howard Swift
 * Voices: Nicole Jaffe, Hal Smith, Casey Kasem, John Stephenson, Don Messick, Jean Vander Pyl, Vic Perrin, Frank Welker, Stefanianna Christopherson
 * Animation Director: Charles A. Nichols
 * Production Design: Iwao Takamoto
 * Production Supervisor: Victor O. Schipek
 * Layout: Bob Singer, Alvaro Arce, Paul Gruwell, Mike Arens, Alex Ignatiev, Ric Gonzales, Bill Lignante
 * Animation: Bill Keil, George Rowley, Oliver E. Callahan, Ed Love, Rudy Cataldi, Bill Nunes, Zdenko Gasparovic, Joan Orbison, Bob Goe, Jay Sarbry, Hicks Lokey, Ken Southworth, Lloyd Vaughan
 * Background Styling: Walt Peregoy
 * Backgrounds: Ron Dias, Gary Niblett, Daniela Bielecka, Rolly Oliva
 * Title Design: Bill Perez
 * Titles: Robert Schaefer
 * Musical Director: Ted Nichols
 * Technical Supervisor: Frank Paiker
 * Ink and Paint Supervisor: Roberta Greutert
 * Xerography: Robert "Tiger" West
 * Sound Direction: Richard Olson
 * Film Editing: Gregory V. Watson, Jr., Ted Baker, Chip Yaras
 * Camera: Dick Blundell, Bill Kotler, George Epperson, Cliff Shirpser, Charles Flekal, Roy Wade
 * A Hanna-Barbera Production
 * © 1969 Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc.
 * a hanna-barbera production
 * A Taft Broadcasting Company

Notes/trivia

 * This is the penultimate episode of the first season of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!.
 * The Mystery Machine is absent.
 * Colonel Sanders shares his name with real-life American businessman, Harland David Sanders (who went by Colonel Sanders) the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). This is likely a coincidence. The fast-food restaurant chain did exist at the time this episode aired (it was founded in 1952).
 * A sound byte of Big Ben chiming is used for the grandfather clock striking the hour.
 * The message on the mirror is: The first is gone, the rest will go. Unless you leave the island, and ROW! ROW! ROW! Signed, Phantom Shadow.
 * The Shaggy Super Sandwich sounds virtually the same as the Super Shaggy Sandwich from Hassle in the Castle, but they look quite different.
 * This is the first episode to show multiple members of the gang in pyjamas, or in different costumes at all; previously only Daphne had worn a tutu in Bedlam in the Big Top.
 * The plot of this episode is almost like The Flintstones episode, A Haunted House is Not a Home. The only difference is that in the latter, the deceased wasn't deceased at all, but was playing a practical joke.
 * Scenes from this episode, particularly the unmasking, are used in the direct-to-video film, Scooby-Doo! Frankencreepy, which features Mr. Crawls in a conspiracy group of other former convicts setting up a highly elaborate revenge. His first name is revealed to be "Cuthbert."

Miscellaneous

 * Disguises: Shaggy and Scooby as a Confederate couple.
 * Scooby Snacks bribe: 1.
 * "Zoinks" count: 3.

Cultural references

 * Shaggy says "Don't fire until you see the green of his eyes", which is based off the famous phrase in the American Revolutionary War, "Don't fire until you see the white of their eyes!"

Adaptations

 * Gold Key Comics adapted this episode as the sole story for Scooby Doo... Where Are You! #8. It was renamed Night for a Fright.
 * The relatives were just tied up and locked away inside the mansion and, since they didn't leave, they didn't lose their shares of the inheritance.
 * In the live-action theatrical film, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, there is a lone Giggling Green Ghost put on display at the Coolsonian Criminology Museum.
 * In Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, there is also one Giggling Green Ghost on display at the Crystal Cove Spook Museum.
 * The Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! episode, Where There's a Will, There's a Wraith, is a reimagining of this episode.

Animation mistakes and/or technical glitches

 * The table with the phonograph disappears.
 * When Shaggy takes out his sandwich, the fishbowl beside him is completely empty, no water or fish. But a few seconds later, when he grabs the box of fish food, the bowl has water and a goldfish that bares teeth and snaps at Shaggy! The fishbowl is empty once again, when Shaggy repeats back to Scooby about his bathtub being dropped to the basement.
 * During the scene where Scooby is trying to tell Shag and Fred about the bathtub tipping into the basement, Freddy is wearing his regular clothes, when he tells them to look in the bathroom instead of his pajamas. Also at this time, the front of the fish food box has no writing.
 * Fred is also out of his pajamas when he shouldn't be, when the gang peek out their rooms after they hear spooky noises coming from Cousin Simple's room.
 * When the drainpipe is falling towards the ocean, the pipe hits the ocean like it is glass. There is no splash!
 * When Velma tells Shaggy to follow the Phantom Shadow's footprints, her glasses have no lenses or the tint is missing from them.
 * When the uniform is chasing Shaggy, Scooby and Velma, the shoulder strap changes shoulder whenever the uniform changes direction, even though it should remain on the same shoulder as the uniform is always seen from the front.
 * The Green Ghosts' chains often switch from arm to arm, and sometimes vanish altogether.
 * When Shaggy and Scooby pull the corks from wine bottles, the racks hold four bottles in each row but in the next shot, they hold three bottles per row.
 * Velma asks Shaggy, "How'd you get that green stuff on your hands?", but there is no visible "green stuff".

Inconsistencies/continuity errors and/or goofs/oddities

 * None of Beauregard's relatives have a problem competing with a dog, or at least aren't very vocal about it.
 * Since the gang did not come with any luggage, it's unknown where Shaggy and Fred got their pajamas from.
 * The goldfish in Beauregard's home should've been removed after his passing, yet still remains in one of the (presumable) guest rooms. After the scene, it's completely forgotten as is typically the case.
 * The first time a Phantom Shadow appears, just before the bath tips, it isn't a shadow. This isn't supposed to be known until later in the episode.
 * Although the boys wear pajamas for bed, the girls remain unchanged. It's unclear where the former got theirs' from, or why the latter aren't changed.
 * Velma claims that the dummy Scooby looks just like the real one, when it very evidently does not. The only resemblance is the shape of the dummy.
 * When the Gang find the coffins, Fred says, "The cousins!", when one of them was a nephew, rather than a cousin.
 * When running away from the Green Ghosts, after Scooby faints, the Gang run to the left through a doorway, dropping Scooby. Shaggy leans back through to wake Scooby up, and is then chased by the Green Ghosts, who float through the doorway from the left. Next, the Green Ghosts are in front of them, running to the left again.
 * When priming the wine bottles to fire them at the Phantom, Shaggy says, "Don't fire 'til you see the green of his eyes", yet the Phantom's eyes are red/orange.
 * How did the cousins escape the island? There were no boats, or any form of transportation for that matter, at least in sight, in the scene that overviewed the mansion at the start of the episode, aside from the gang's. The supposed boats may have been docked behind the mansion or out of sight elsewhere, but this seems unlikely, since the wooden dock that should have been and is typically used was shown in front of the house, completely unused, in the aforementioned scene.
 * When Velma is running from one of the Green Ghosts, a phone rings and she picks it up. Why would anybody be calling the mansion if nobody lives there anymore? (Perhaps it was a nuisance caller, or, as it sounded, one of the phantoms.)
 * When "flying" on the washing machine, Shaggy proclaims, "I can't steer this crazy machine!", followed immediately by, "We'll take the shortcut", which implies a level of control.
 * Given Colonel Sanders's attorneys should have known the money was Confederate and only worth something as a collectable. Their behavior in trying to keep control of the "fortune" makes no sense.
 * Beginning in the late 1980's, Confederate money started being sought after by collectors so Velma's "worthless" comment might puzzle modern viewers of this episode.
 * The flying bone isn't explained. One can only imagine that the mansion really is haunted.
 * It is never established what would happen to the house or its furniture.

Home media

 * 🇺🇸 Classic Scooby-Doo!: The Haunted House Hang-Up VHS released by Turner Home Entertainment on April 13, 1999.
 * 🇺🇸 Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete 1st and 2nd Seasons DVD set released by Warner Home Video on March 16, 2004.
 * Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete 1st and 2nd Seasons DVD set released by Warner Home Video on June 20, 2005.
 * 🇺🇸 Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: Volume 4 - Spooked Bayou DVD released by Warner Home Video on October 19, 2010.
 * 🇺🇸 Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete Series (limited edition) DVD set released by Warner Home Video on November 9, 2010.
 * Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete Series DVD set released by Warner Home Video on November 21, 2011.
 * Scooby-Doo! and the Haunted House DVD released on October 23, 2012.
 * 🇺🇸 Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete Series DVD set released by Warner Home Video on November 13, 2012.