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Haunted House Hang-Up is the fifth episode of the second season of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, and the twenty-second overall.

Premise[]

Mystery Inc. is headed to a rock festival, but are lost on some back-roads when they run into a farmer who warns them about a haunted mansion up ahead. They head up to the mansion where a headless specter roams the grounds, and the gang must find out who is behind it and why. 

Synopsis[]

A headless figure, holding a candle stick, roams a seemingly abandoned, spooky old mansion.

Fred, Daphne, Velma, Scooby, and Shaggy cruise down a wooded back-road towards a rock festival when they pull up to a farmer on the road who says his name is Asa Shanks. He informs them there is a fork in the road and that they should take the long way, because the short way leads past the mansion, haunted by a headless specter. To Scooby and Shaggy's horror, it's decided they go the short route because they're low on gas. The van then overheats and Shaggy and Scooby go look for water in an old well by the mansion. But a white-sheet "ghost" floats up out of the well and the gang doubts Shaggy and Scooby's story. Realizing there is no bucket in the well, the gang heads inside the mansion after seeing a light. Entering, they are chased away by a floating candle. Then the gang find a small parlor with a painting of a man named Jefferson Stillwall pointing to something. The head goes missing off the painting, only seen by Shaggy and Scooby and again, the gang doubts them. They hear a knocking noise and they follow it to a room with an empty box with the head of Jefferson Stillwall inside (which causes Scooby to pass out in terror until Shaggy revives him with a scooby snack twice), but the head is only a wooden dummy. The curious clan follow footprints and end up splitting up to follow different footprints. Velma, Scooby and Shaggy stumble into a dark room and find the Headless Specter! In a colourful chase, the specter tries catching the three until they crash through a window and fall down into the well, finding a hidden passage.

Fred and Daphne find a bedroom with an old diary with an entry stating "July 12, 1822. Marching men in single file hide the secret. Stillwall shows the way". Then, they find a trapdoor that leads into a fruit cellar. The passage found by Velma, Shaggy and Scooby leads to the fruit cellar and the gang reunites. In the cellar, they find canisters of helium and a jar of balloons. They deduce the ghost in the well was just a sheet covered over a helium-filled balloon. Velma concludes that the diary refers to a line of columns and the painting of Stillwall in the parlor must be pointing to a specific column. But the painting points to an old greenhouse. Shaggy and Scoob enter the greenhouse and find the specter. Pursued, they run into the well and fly up on the balloons. Shaggy, Scooby and the specter crash into the hen-house and the Headless Specter is unmasked as Penrod Stillwall, descendant of Jefferson Stillwall. He made up the specter to scare people away so he could search for a treasure that is hidden somewhere in the mansion, which is rightfully his since he's a descendant of Jefferson Stillwall. The gang assures Mr. Stillwall that none of them want his ancestor's treasure and even offer to help him look for it.

The gang and Mr. Stillwall hear the thumping noises coming from the attic again--Mr. Stillwall admits that he thought the gang was the one making all the noises while they thought he was the one doing it. Fred and Shaggy go up into the attic to see a man wearing a sheet over himself, chopping the walls of the attic with an axe. The man spots them and gives chase, but Shaggy and Fred lead the chase outside, where Daphne and Velma are waiting with a trip wire. They trip up the sheeted-figure, who crashes into a column, making it collapse. The sheeted figure is revealed as Asa Shanks, Penrod's neighbor, who was also looking for the treasure. Scooby reveals the treasure from inside the column: a carpetbag stashed with hundreds of thousands of dollar bills. Penrod is overjoyed by the discovery and wants to know how he can thank the kids, with Shaggy simply asking where the nearest pizza parlor is.

As the gang continue on towards the music festival, they discuss the direction of the painting, and figure it must've been moved, otherwise it would've pointed directly at the column with the money inside. Scooby then rapidly plays on his drum, tangling his arms.

Characters[]

Main characters:

Supporting characters:

  • None

Villains:

Other characters:

Locations[]

  • Stillwall mansion
    • Well
    • Secret tunnel
    • Greenhouse
  • Rock music festival (mentioned)
  • Interstate #5
  • China (mentioned)
  • Farm
    • Chicken coop
  • Pizza parlor (mentioned)

Objects[]

  • Box with the wooden dummy head of Jefferson Stillwall
  • Jefferson Stillwall's diary
  • Rubber balloons
  • Helium gas tank
  • Bologna
  • Mustard
  • Scooby Snacks
  • Pizza
  • Headless Specter's candle in a candle stick
  • Shaggy's guitar
  • Scooby's drum sticks
  • Scooby's drum
  • Broken down road sign
  • Asa Shanks's lantern
  • Lunch box
  • Butter knife
  • The Mystery Machine's radiator
  • Watering trough
  • Sheet
  • Floating candle
  • Picture of Jefferson Stillwall
  • Staircase carpet
  • Plate armours
  • Shaggy's shoes
  • Ladder
  • Books
  • Bed
  • Pillows
  • Stove
  • Spinning wheel
  • Penny-farthing
  • Telephone line
  • Drawer
  • Carpet
  • Phony phantom's axe
  • Broken column
  • Carpetbag of money

Vehicles[]

Suspects[]

Suspect Motive/reason
Asa Shanks He warned the gang away from the haunted mansion.

Culprits[]

Culprit Motive/reason
Penrod Stillwall as the Headless Specter To scare away thieves.
Asa Shanks as the phony phantom To steal Penrod's family fortune.

Cast[]

Don Messick Scooby-Doo
Casey Kasem Shaggy Rogers
Penrod Stillwall
Frank Welker Fred Jones
Heather North Daphne Blake
Nicole Jaffe Velma Dinkley
Hal Smith Headless Specter
Asa Shanks
Phony phantom
Balloon ghost

Songs[]

Song Credits Performed by
"Love the World" Written by Danny Janssen George A. Robertson, Jr.

Full credits[]

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


Notes/trivia[]

  • Shaggy's disapproval of shaving cream ads may result from negative remarks on his goatee.
  • This is the first instance in the franchise where the main ghost (the Headless Specter) was not the actual villain, trying to scare people away to cover up some kind of criminal/illegal activity.
    • It's also the first instance in which the person under ghost disguise spontaneously reveals himself rather than being unmasked by the gang upon having their plot foiled.
  • Starting with this episode, sliding green or blue-coloured screens are used as scene transitions; previously, dissolves were used. On this episode only, they make no sound, as opposed to the "laser" sound that would be introduced later.
  • This episode could be inspired by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera's original pitch for the show which was a group of kids who were in a band and would solve mysteries in between gigs, often getting lost along the way. In this episode, the gang are going to the Rock Music Festival, where it looks like Shaggy and Scooby are going to play.
  • The mention of Interstate 5 implies that the episode takes place on the west coast of the United States. However, the mansion appears to be based on architecture in the Deep South.

Miscellaneous[]

Cultural references[]

  • When Shaggy and Scooby are playing music in the back of the Mystery Machine, Daphne calls them "One Dog Night and Creedence Shaggy". This is a reference to current bands Three Dog Night and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Adaptations[]

Animation mistakes and/or technical glitches[]

  • Shaggy's nose is missing while he holds Scooby in his arms as Asa first stands in front of the gang.
  • When Shaggy and Scooby crash into the Mystery Machine having seen "a ghost", Velma talks to the floor of the Mystery Machine, rather than out of the window towards Shaggy and Scooby.
    • Although it does look as though she was talking to the floor, it may have been that the animators wanted to depict Velma looking down on Shaggy and Scooby, as she would have been higher up than they were, what with her being seated in the Mystery Machine, and them sitting in a crumpled heap on the ground.
  • The footprints seen immediately after the wooden head were not there several moments beforehand.
  • Shaggy, Velma and Scooby seem to leave the dark room the same door they entered- only now there are two footprints rather than one.
  • Starting at when Velma, Shaggy and Scooby pop up out of the stove, there are a few minutes where the lens on Velma's glasses are missing. They come back during the moment the three are escaping from the mansion on the bike.
  • When the Headless Specter opens the door of the stove and Shaggy pops up from one of the holes at the top, his bottom half is missing.
  • When Fred and Daphne are reading the book, Daphne's eyebrows are missing until she leans in to take a closer look at what they're reading.
  • When Fred and Daphne fall into the fruit cellar, Daphne's pantyhose are missing.
  • Fred's mouth doesn't move when he says "Is this your ghost, guys?"; his face is fixed in a smile.
  • The Scooby Snack Shaggy feeds the flytrap lily is cube-shaped.
  • In the standard side view of the Mystery Machine driving, Daphne's mouth doesn't move as she talks and Shaggy is sitting in the front when immediately after he's shown in the back with Scooby, finishing their pizza and back to playing their instruments.
  • When Penrod receives the bag of treasure, he's wearing the gloves of the Headless Specter.
  • When Scooby tangles his legs playing the drum, soon afterwards they appear as if they're merely crossing each other.
  • Shaggy's stomach sticks out of the water when lying in the well, even though he should be too skinny for that to occur.

Inconsistencies/continuity errors and/or goofs/oddities[]

  • Velma stands firm with Shaggy that "there's no such thing as a ghost" back at the well, but she had already seen plenty of "ghosts" before then and seemed to believe their existence at first.
  • How could Penrod see if his head was inside his shirt?
    • Logic-defying effects of disguises are so common in the Scooby-Doo universe that they have their own category.
  • If Penrod did own the mansion, he couldn't possibly live there, given its old dilapidated Georgian architecture. The greenhouse is also broken down, yet it looks as if the plants have been cared for.
  • The Mystery Machine's engine is shown at the back of the van instead of the front, meaning that there are no rear doors.
  • Even if it was daylight savings, the gang still take half the night to solve the mystery, and then once it's solved it's not the festival they're heading for, but a pizza parlor.
  • It's easy to imagine that Penrod told the story of the Headless Specter to be more menacing, but he apparently didn't tell anyone how Jefferson came to lose his head.
  • Penrod doesn't mention making the balloon look like a ghost, but presumably he did that, too.
  • The holes in the sheet should not hide the balloon. Also, when Fred's holding the sheet, there's no visible eye or mouth holes.
  • Scooby, Shaggy, and Velma likely would've not survived the fall down into the well. They aren't hurt in the slightest.
  • When Velma, Shaggy and Scooby fall into the well, Velma says the water is only knee-deep. In fact, it's only ankle-deep.
  • Fred says that the "last entry" was July 12, 1822, which appeared to be in the middle of the book, and turns the page on to that entry as he says it. He couldn't be certain that was the last entry without checking the next page.
  • When Velma reads aloud the diary entry, she says "Marching men in single file could a column..." at an uninterrupted pace. This was supposed to be a partial reading and a deduction of what this diary segment meant, but the absence of a proper transition and omission of a second verb convey this entire line as a recitation of the diary.
  • Shaggy is still able to enunciate, even with a balloon in his mouth.
  • With no head, the Headless Specter shouldn't be able to make a sound, although as a ghost (or at least as a pretend one) he could have the power to make sound.
  • Whether he's standing or kneeling (most likely the former), the way the Headless Specter is positioned at the bottom of the chimney, there would've have to be a removable panel in the floor.
  • Presumably the portrait was done in conjunction with the diary clue, but it isn't made clear.
  • If Shaggy had been smarter and not goofing around he wouldn't have almost got eaten to begin with.
  • Even if Penrod was just trying to scare people away, it didn't stop him from jumping on top of Scooby, Shaggy, and Velma, who he thought were hiding under a bed, unless he knew there were just pillows underneath the sheet. He also tried to knock Shaggy off his balloon.
  • Asa looks like he's chopping inside a barn instead of a mansion.
  • Asa was clearly wearing a bed sheet or table cover, etc. and yet he still frightens Fred and Shaggy. What probably made it more frightening was that he was holding an axe (although he wasn't holding it when he chased them).
  • Asa tells the gang about the Headless Specter, saying that nobody has seen the Specter and lived; either Asa made it up on his own, or he saw Penrod's Specter and was frightened off, thus contradicting his statement, or he saw the Specter and wasn't scared away.
  • Asa bothered to tell the gang about the Headless Specter, but for some reason he didn't think about making his disguise headless.
  • Clearly minutes have passed between the time it took the gang to catch Penrod and Asa, yet the former managed to change into a sweater by the time of the latter's capture. Either this is an animation mistake or he was wearing one underneath his costume.
  • There isn't a sheriff to arrest Asa in this episode, he's simply left in the care of Penrod. Presumably, he called the sheriff after the gang had left.
  • When Shaggy, Velma, and Scooby hold hands with the Headless Specter, how would they know that his hands feel cold and clammy, or "like a couple of fish right out of the lake", especially when he's wearing gloves?
  • A stone pillar on top of a person would kill them.
  • Why doesn't Fred act as the tie-breaker when the gang's figuring out whether to turn right or left at the fork? He eventually makes the final decision himself, but it shouldn't have been necessary for Shaggy to flip a slice of baloney.
  • In a rarity for Scooby Doo the main monster is NOT doing anything illegal or against the law, he's simply keeping people off his property due to fear someone will take what's rightfully his.
  • While Penrod is initially standoffish with the gang he softens when they offer to help him out, and eventually helps the gang catch the real culprit. He's even grateful to Scooby after Scooby finds the money.

In other languages[]

Language Name Meaning
Greek Το Ακέφαλο Φάντασμα The Headless Ghost
Hungarian A kísértetkastély képe The painting of the haunted house

Home media[]

Quotes[]

Daphne: One Dog Night and Credence Shaggy are really rockin' tonight.


Shaggy: (after Velma points out a sign) Hope it doesn't turn out to be an ad for shaving cream.


Daphne: (after the sign is seen as a bust) I wonder what it says.
Shaggy: (jokingly) It says 24,000 miles to China, (pointing down) that-a-way.


(when the gang is deciding which way to go at the fork in the road)
Shaggy: Let's flip a slice of baloney to decide.
Daphne: (in confusion) What?
Shaggy: Heads we go to the right, and I eat it. Tails we go to the left and I eat it.
Velma: How can you have Heads and Tails on a slice of baloney.
Shaggy: (spreading mustard on the baloney) Heads is the mustard side, tails is plain.
Velma: (smacking her head) Of all the ridiculous... Oh, all right.


(Mystery Machine overheating with steam)
Daphne: Wow, is this car overheating.
Shaggy: And, like, I thought we had ourselves a built-in steam room.
Scooby: (dressed in towels like he's at a spa) Me, too!


Daphne: Look, guys. There's a light in that old haunted mansion.
Shaggy: Then that's our cue to light out of here!
Scooby: And how!
Fred: Now just hold it a minute you two.
Shaggy: It's probably the Headless Specter.
Scooby: Or a ghost!
Velma: (skeptically) Like your ghost in the well, Scooby?
(Scooby laughs sheepishly)


(after seeing the sets of footprints)
Shaggy: (sarcastically) I've seen guys do the splits but this is ridiculous.


(after entering the dark room)
Shaggy: I feel like I've been dipped in ink and let loose in a coal mine.


(after falling into the well and laying on his back)
Shaggy: Help! I'm drowning, call the coastguard!
(cut-away shot reveals how shallow the water is)
Velma: Stand up, the water's only knee deep.
(Scooby laughs)


Shaggy: My stomach's emptier than a piggybank on a day after Christmas.


Shaggy: Like, wow! You're rich, Mr. Stillwall!
Asa Shanks: And I've found it, if it wasn't for you snoopers!

External links[]


Previous episode: Series: Next episode:
Jeepers, It's the Creeper Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!
Season 2
A Tiki Scare is No Fair
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