THE SCOOBY GANG

MEMBERSHIP: Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, Norville Shagsworth “Shaggy" Rogers and his dog, Scooby-Doo

PURPOSE: The investigation, exploration and possible debunking of alleged supernatural locations.

BASE of OPERATIONS: Coeursville, Massachusetts, also Mobile

FIRST APPEARANCE: Scooby Doo, Where Are You (ABC-TV series, September 13,1969 - RECENT))

HISTORY: Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy were four teens who attended Coeursville High School (Grades 7-12) in the early Seventies. Bound by common teenage interests as well as senses of responsibility, they stumbled on a mystery one night concerning a suit of armor behind the wheel of a truck and delved into the mystery as if it was a riddle or a practical joke set up for them to find. The discovery thrust them into a series of incidents involving art thieves and eventually more unexplained events as they traveled abroad on trips across the United States. By time they graduated high school in 1974, they had visited and exposed twenty sites being used to conceal criminal activities.

Even through their college years, the four teens continued to poke into any incident that never seemed right. They became popular in the press as unofficial detectives as they were dubbed the Scooby Gang after Shaggy's Great Dane, a huge, friendly dog with a huge appetite. Instead of defending the gang as a conventional guard dog, it often becomes the first to run and hide, often moving furniture and knocking things over as it does. Today, Blake hosts a local news-like TV series that investigates and reveals haunted locations. Fred, the unofficial leader, is her cameraman while Shaggy acts as driver and Velma as their advisor. Today, they have achieved a certain pop status with a cartoon series based on their adventures and a feature film in 2002 based on their younger lives than on their recent careers.

Over the years, the gang has traveled abroad on vacation excursions and as guests for friends and family. Some of their travels have taken them to the American Southwest, Mexico, England, the Far East and even an uneventful cruise through the so-called Bermuda Triangle.

CASE FILES: Essex County Museum (9/13/69, 11/29/69), Vasquez Castle (9/27/69), Cutler's Cove (9/20/69, 12/13/69), Gold City (10/4/69), Weatherby Estate (10/18/69), Funland Amusement Park (11/1/69), Old Coeursville Theater (11/8/69), Franken Castle (11/22/69), Old Sanders House (1/10/70), Wolf's Head Lodge (1/17/70), Oceanland (9/26/70), Old Stillwell House (10/10/70), Mona Tiki Tia (10/17/70), Blake Ranch (9/11/76), The Everglades (9/18/76), The Smithsonian (9/25/76), Happy Humor Ice Cream Factory (10/2/76), Dilly-Dolly Toy Company (10/9/76), Temple of Kontazuma (10/23//76), Winterhaven Power Company (10/25/76), Sleepy Hollow (10/31/76), Old Crabbe House (11/27/76), Underground Seattle (12/1/76), Coeursville Community College (12/4/76), Viking Lake (9/10/77), Skull Island (9/17/76, 10/20/76), Big Canyon Dude Ranch (9/24/77), Spider Mountain (10/15/77), Wilcox House (9/30/78), McDuff Castle (10/14/78), Decade Records (10/18/78), Miedo Fortress (aka Fortress of Fear, 12/9/78)       

COMMENTS: As the cartoon series started to drop in ratings, the network added an annoying little pup for comic relief. The extra character just speeded up the cartoon's demise.  The series renamed their hometown of Coeursville, Massachusetts to Coolsville to be more children-friendly for the TV series.

Scooby's name comes from the old Scooby Snacks, a cinnamon tasting cookie dough sort of like a round doughnut.  Named for a Frank Sinatra tune, the line was discontinued in 1987, although Daphne still bakes new ones based on the company recipe. Despite a people snack, the original Scooby lived to be 15 years old on them. Considering their Lassie-like heritage, Scooby Two and Scooby Three are also living off the snack.