Ben Ravencroft was a famous horror writer from Oakhaven, Massachusetts. His ancestor, Sarah Ravencroft, was an evil witch who was imprisoned centuries ago. Ben tried to unleash Sarah onto the world, only for her to turn against him, with both of them eventually sucked back into her manual of sorcery for good.
Appearance[]
Ben Ravencroft was a tall male with a sturdy build. He had long black hair tied in a ponytail with a goatee beard/mustache. He wore thin-framed glasses, and his attire consisted of a reddish-brown blazer over a black sweatshirt, matching brown trousers, a black belt, and black shoes.
Personality[]
Ben was a highly intelligent, cultured and refined man who initially seemed to be decent and showed signs of reciprocating Velma Dinkley's romantic attraction to him. However, after he used the gang to achieve his goal of finding Sarah's spell book, Ben revealed himself to be an evil, manipulative and sadistic megalomaniac with an ambition of world domination. Despite that, Ben had some honor in him, as he was horrified at the thought of world destruction, when it's revealed that his ancestor had no intention of ruling over the world with him. Also, despite his cunning tactics, Ben seemed to have a lack of common sense, since he believed with all his "warlock powers" he also could send his evil ancestor back into the book, but learned that only Wiccans could defeat Sarah.
Powers and Abilities[]
As a direct descendant of Sarah Ravencroft, Ben was a natural warlock, but it appeared that he needed Sarah's spell book to activate his otherwise-dormant powers.
After he obtained the spell book and activated his dormant magic, Ben demonstrated powers such as telekinesis (advanced mental powers), animating inanimate objects, pyrokinesis (the ability to create and control fire), and unleashing energy blasts. However, Ben's magic was revealed to be still far inferior compared to his ancestress, who trapped him in a ball of mystical green energy after he tried to imprison her back into the spell book, and proved unable to escape by himself.
History[]
Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost[]
Ben appeared in a museum, helped the gang to solve a mummy mystery, claimed that he had been doing research for a novel when he saw the archaeologists acting suspiciously, and decided to investigate. Ben then revealed that he knew them by reputation, much to Velma's honor, as she was a huge fan of his, and he invited them to his hometown, Oakhaven.
However, upon arrival, Ben was surprised to find his hometown flooded with tourists because of the Autumn Fest with a concert that featured the Hex Girls, and was made uncomfortable to find the event that portrayed his ancestress as an evil witch and ghost.
Ben spent time with the gang, while also talking about his ancestress, Sarah Ravencroft, and desired to find her journal in order to prove that she had been a compassionate healer and Wiccan, and not an evil witch. That night, he, Fred Jones, Velma, and Daphne Blake, ran into Scooby-Doo and Shaggy Rogers who claimed they'd been chased by the Witch's Ghost. They followed a source of light and witnessed the Hex Girls rehearsing for the concert. The Hex Girls then introduced themselves as Thorn, Dusk, and Luna, and were also fans of Ben.
After talking to them, Fred and Daphne stayed to keep an eye on them, while Velma, Ben, Scooby, and Shaggy continued the investigation. Velma sent Scooby and Shaggy to follow the Mayor while she and Ben investigated an old barn. There, they found a cherry-picker truck, with the engine still warm.
Eventually, the Gang and Ben uncovered the mystery: The Mayor, in order to raise Oakhaven's tourist industry, started the Autumn Fest and used Sarah Ravencroft's reputation as a witch for a gimmick. The townspeople had pitched in to help; Thorn's father, Mr. McKnight, had posed as the Witch's Ghost, by use of one of his daughter's props to throw flash-paper, that mimicked fireballs. The local restaurant owner, Jack, had hoisted McKnight on the cherry-picker while it was driven by another participant, as was the fan used to create the eerie wind operated by another. Outraged, Ben expressed disappointment in the Mayor and all the culprits in his scheme for dragging Sarah's name through the mud, with Scooby doing the "shame on you" gesture with his paws.
Later that night at Ben's House, Ben, the Gang, and the Hex Girls were visited by the Mayor and Mr. McKnight, who came to apologize and explained why they had used Sarah's image for their publicity stunt: They discovered her gravestone while building the puritan village for their Autumn Fest but had found nothing else, no bones or Sarah's Book.
Then, a stray remark by Mr. McKnight enabled Velma to figure out where the book was buried. She and Scooby then led them all to the big tree stump, where Scooby found a "shoe buckle" earlier that day. Digging deeper, Scooby then found a chest, which contained the book Ben had sought for so long. However, much to the Gang's horror, the book had a rather dark and sinister look — nothing comparable to an actual diary, as Velma stated upon seeing its cover and opened its pages.
It was there that Ben revealed his true colors — he confirmed that it was not a diary but a spell book, that Sarah had indeed been a witch not a wiccan, and declared himself a warlock due being Sarah's direct descendant. He then explained that Wiccans had imprisoned Sarah in her own spell book centuries ago, and that Velma and her friends helped him find it. Velma called Ben out for lying to her, but he showed no remorse for manipulating her, and had searched for the book for years, when he came upon her exploits.
Ben figured that Mystery Inc., by their impressive reputation in solving mysteries, could surely help him find the book and then revealed their meeting was not a coincidence: Ben was the one who engineered the mummy scheme, and had paid off the archaeologists and the security guards, just so they could meet. Though Fred believed that the Mayor and Mr. McKnight were part of Ben's scheme, they both denied it and Ben confessed that they were telling the truth. The false ghost of Sarah was the town's idea but Ben admitted that while he didn't expect it, it did work to his advantage. He didn't tell them the truth about the book or Sarah, and knew that if the Gang had known the truth they would never have helped him.
Ben then declared that he would free Sarah and unlock her power. After he read a spell, Ben called upon the dark powers that he had inherited from Sarah, displayed some of them, and then attempted to free Sarah, only for the Gang to interfere. In the end, Ben succeeded in summoning Sarah's Ghost, and realized that she had no interest in ruling the world and would rather destroy it as revenge for her long imprisonment. After he saw his folly and was repulsed by Sarah's destructive bouts, Ben then attempted to seal Sarah back into the book, but she mocked his attempt, revealed that only a virtuous Wiccan could imprison her, and entrapped him within a barrier (which he couldn't escape by himself).
Ben sucked into the spell book.
After a mad skirmish over the spell book, the Gang delivered it to Thorn of the Hex Girls, who had Wiccan ancestry through her mother's side of the family, and she was successful in casting the spell to imprison Sarah just as the witch put her hands upon it in a vain attempt to stop her. But as she was sucked back into its pages, Sarah grabbed Ben by his right ankle, declared that she would not go back alone, and Ben was then dragged into the book with her and screamed in terror.
A flaming tree branch then fell upon the book and incinerated it, which sealed the two malevolent Ravencrofts inside it as well as ended their threat forever.
Appearances[]
Notes/Trivia[]
- Ben's appearance resembled Stephen King when he was younger. His name resembled H.P. Lovecraft, both of whom were from New England and wrote widely respected horror novels.
- Similar characters in the Scoobyverse included Sheldon Keats in The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries: Doom Service and H.P. Hatecraft in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: The Shrieking Madness}.
In Other Languages[]
| Actor | Language | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Dário de Castro (died 2021) | Brazilian Portuguese | |
| Walter von Hauff | German | |
| Robert Czebotar | Polish | |
| Mikael Roupé | Swedish | |
| Michel Vigné | French | |
| Luis Alfonso Padilla | Latin Spanish |