The Star-Spangled Spectre

The Star-Spangled Spectre is a story in Scooby-Doo... Mystery Comics #27

Premise
The town of New Lichfield, Massachusetts is being haunted by a Colony Creature.

Synopsis
Scooby and the gang are traveling through rural Massachusetts; Fred wants to visit New Lichfield, where his family is from. The town is also home to the legendary "Colony Creature," a giant iron monster who terrorized would-be rebel colonists shortly after the Boston Tea Party. Fred explains that Jacob Richfield, the town blacksmith, used a magic powder to stop the monster.

While Shaggy and Scooby try to cash some traveler's cheques, the Creature appears and seems to be heading for the bank. Shaggy tries to calm the bank patrons, but everyone panics and the locals evacuate the town. Shaggy goes for help and Scooby follows the Creature, but the Creature sees him and takes Scooby captive.

Meanwhile, Detective Kelly has arrived, and he and the gang see that in the commotion, someone came in and dynamited and stole a safety deposit box containing $50,000 for the park building fund. Shaggy notices Scooby is missing, and the gang set out to find Jacob Richfield's house, as Fred figures that for a likely hideout.

They find the house, but it's deserted. However, behind a wall plaque by Benjamin Franklin, Fred finds Richfield's journal and some loadstone, a naturally magnetic stone. In the journals, Richfield describes how the British viceroy ordered him to forge a demon suit out of iron to scare the townspeople, and how he, Richfield, stopped the demon with lodestone powder.

The thieves, who still have Scooby, are the cave, and have transferred the money into a chest, which has a destruct button to destroy the evidence in case something goes wrong. One of the thugs notices the gang approaching the cave, so Charlie suits up as the Creature to scare them off. Scooby breaks free, but is cornered by the Creature/Charlie. Fred throws the loadstone on the Creature, freezing its parts and saving Scooby. One of the thieves uses the destruct mechanism on the chest, however, and the money for the park fund goes up in smoke.

Scooby points out the safety deposit box, and Detective Kelly can arrest them on this charge alone. Daphne reminds everyone of the wall plaque -- it was an original drawing by Benjamin Franklin and worth a fortune.

Characters

 * Scooby-Doo
 * Shaggy Rogers
 * Fred Jones
 * Daphne Blake
 * Velma Dinkley
 * Jacob Richfield (in flashback)
 * Detective Kelly
 * Charlie
 * Colony Creature
 * Two unnamed thugs