To Switch a Witch

To Switch a Witch is the twenty-sixth episode of The Scooby-Doo Show and the second episode of the third season, which re-used the name Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!

Premise
The gang are off to visit a friend, Arlene Wilcox, on Halloween night, in the town of Salem which is being haunted by a witch. The town suspects Arlene and sets out to get a confession from her.

Synopsis
It is Halloween in Salem. An old caretaker digging graves in a cemetery. Suddenly, a glowing witch appears, clad in a purple robe and green wig. The caretaker runs off screaming, "She's back!" He arrives at the house of Squire Marley (one of the town leaders) claiming the old witch of Salem, Melissa Wilcox, has risen from her grave to seek revenge after being burned at the stake over 200 years ago.

The gang is on their way to Salem to see an old friend, Arlene Wilcox, who has just inherited her family's house. When they arrive, they see Squire Marley nailing the witch's sign to one of the trees. He warns them to leave, saying that Arlene has been possessed by the witch of Salem. The gang ingores his warnings and goes inside Arlene's house to find out what is going on. She tells them that Squire Marley saw the witch and claimed she looked exactly like Arlene, knowing that Arlene is a direct descendent of Milissa Wilcox. After being shown their rooms, Shaggy and Scooby dress in their Halloween costumes. Shaggy is a peasant, and Scooby is dressed like a witch, looking very similiar to Milissa Wilcox. It is there that they first encounter the witch, who appears in their room. Before they can call for help, the witch disappears in a cloud of green smoke.

Fred, Daphne, Velma, and Arlene rush upstairs to find a terrified Shaggy and Scooby. Daphne notices a strange liquid on the ground that is eating away the carpet. As they look out the window, they see the witch running back to the graveyard. They pursue her, leaving Arlene alone at the house. The gang arrives at the graveyard just to see the witch run to her grave and disappear in another cloud of smoke. Velma goes behind the grave and finds a hot piece of wire, a clue to the mystery. After being warned again, this time by Gar Mooney, the caretaker, they gang heads to the Salem Witchcraft Museum to look through old records. There they find the Wilcox family tree, where Arlene's name is marked out and replaced by the word "Gemini" (another clue). The gang splits up, with Fred, Daphne, and Velma going back to Arlene's house, and Shaggy and Scooby trick-or-treating.

While they are trick-or-treating, Scooby is mistaken for Milissa Wilcox, and taken by Squire Marley and the town mob back to the witchcraft museum for an old fashioned confession (by repeatingly dunking him under water). Fred, Daphne, and Velma find the Wilcox house deserted and head to the graveyard, where they find Arlene. Arlene had escaped the mob after being warned by Gar Mooney. Shaggy then arrives after escaping the confession unseen, and the gang heads to the museum to rescue Scooby. They are successful, until the mob begins chasing them. The gang goes back to the graveyard to dig a hole to trap the witch in. Shaggy and Scooby foil the plan, but the witch falls into another hole, trapping herself. Squire Marley arrives just as the gang reveals what has been happening. The witch is actually Arlene's twin sister, whom Arlene had never met or known about. She was trying to scare Arlene out of town in order to steal her inheritance and estate. Fred reveals that Gar Mooney was also assisting her sister. The wire Velma found behind the grave was built by Mooney to make the witch glow. Also the acid on the carpet in Arlene's House came from the battery built from the wiring.

Marley apologizes to Arlene and escorts the unnamed Wilcox and Gar to jail.

Later at Arlene's place, Shaggy gives Scooby some chicken soup because he caught a cold from being dunked so many times, only with the chicken still left in.

Villains

 * Ghost Witch of Old Salem

Suspects

 * Arlene Wilcox

Culprits

 * Arlene Wilcox's twin sister as the Ghost Witch of Old Salem
 * Gar Mooney

Locations

 * Salem
 * Cemetery
 * Squire Marley's home
 * Wilcox home
 * City Hall
 * Witchcraft Museum

Notes/trivia

 * A version of the Witch costume is in Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.