Velma’s Mysterious Halloween Mystery

Chapter 1
The gang investigates

Chapter Description: The gang arrives at a haunted mansion that's way out in the boonies.

The Mystery Machine glided down the back road with its lights illuminating a small patch of road as it slid underneath. Fred, in his usual driver’s seat position, steered the van down the road avoiding as many potholes as he could. Daphne sat beside him in her usual spot, with her hand comfortably on his thigh. Velma stared ahead watching the road as it appeared in the headlights and worked out a mental problem in her head. Shag and Scooby were in the back of the van eating as much of the rapidly disappearing food supplies as they could before their journey ended.

“Well gang, we’re almost to our destination. I hear that the ghost in this spooky old house is friendlier than the last one,” said Fred.

“Personally, after all those other ghosts turned out to be nothing more than people taking advantage of old legends to scare off the local populace to carry off a nefarious scheme, I think it’s going to be another dead end for the Mystery crew,” said Velma.

“You’ve got a lot more cynical in the last few years, Velma. We did encounter a real ghost on our last adventure, you know.” countered Daphne.

“Jinkies! I don’t know if it really was a ghost, it seemed more like escaping steam from a pipe in the back of the warehouse to me,” replied Velma.

The conversation dropped off to silence shortly after that. After a long pause, Shaggy spoke up from the back, “Hey gang, can we stop off for more supplies on the way there? We’re almost out of food back here!” To which Scooby chided in with “Rah, ralmost rout!”

“Nope, sorry but there’s very few gas stations in these backwoods, let alone a store that’s open at this late hour!” said Fred.

“Rah, rats!” said Scooby.

After driving for another 20 minutes in silence, Fred called out that they were at their destination and pulled the van into a long driveway paved with crushed stones as a roadbed. The gravel under their tires scrunched as the van worked its way to the house at the end.

The gang piled out of the Mystery Machine and made their way to the front door of a large dilapidated mansion. The moonless night coupled with the glow of a thousand stars in the sky above was the only light available. It cast long shadows and accentuated the mansion’s spires and odd shape as the gang stumbled around in the dark.

Fred pulled out a flashlight and illuminated the front door which hung ajar from the last occupant leaving it open in their haste to leave. As the gang entered the foyer of the mansion, they were greeted with a long set of stairs that went upwards, a large cavernous living area to their left, and a large cavernous dining room to their right.

“Like, is it really okay for us to be here?” asked a nervous Shaggy, “Wouldn’t it breaking and entering if we’re not?”

“It’s okay, Shaggy. The Millers gave us permission to investigate and report our findings. Besides, we’re so far out into the country, I doubt anyone could call in the local law enforcement even if we weren’t.”

“So, what’s the story here, anyway?” asked Daphne.

Velma took up her orator’s pose and began to explain about the original owner of the mansion. “His name was Augustus Miller, he made a small fortune before the Wall Street crash back in 1929. Before that, he inherited several million dollars from his family’s trust fund and received a Ph.D. from Allegheny University in chemistry. He moved out here, had his mansion built with cheap non-union labor from the local Hooverville camps, raised a family consisting of his wife, 2 children, and a small menagerie of animals that he kept in pens in the back of the mansion.”

“Like, Zoiks! That’s really wild, man! Was that all he did with his money? Just retire to the country and ignore the world?” asked a surprised Shaggy.

“No, he continued his chemistry experiments in a basement laboratory. That’s where I’m going to go and see if he left behind some notes that might help explain why Augustus seemingly went mad in his declining years. I suspect it’s a good place to find a few pieces of the puzzle while everyone else searches for his ghost.”

“Velma, did you find out exactly what his son, Augustus Jr. was claiming about his father’s presence in the mansion? I read your report, but I didn’t quite understand what he meant,” said Fred.

“Well, Fred, Augustus Jr. claims that his father’s ghost isn’t an ethereal apparition but rather a physical manifestation. He appears to be a normal-looking person in their thirties, wearing a clothing style from the 1940s. He supposedly appears from nowhere, tells his victim to leave, and then vanishes. The real Augustus should be well over 100 years old by now, so I think we have another impostor on our hands that’s looking for something of value and doesn’t want anyone else to find it first.”

“Okay, that makes better sense. C’mon Daphne, let’s go upstairs and check out the bedrooms!” said Fred as he put his arm around Daphne’s waist and the two of them climbed the stairs together with the occasional giggle from Daphne as they went.

“Like, Scoob and I will check out the kitchen! Let’s go Scoob!” said Shaggy. “Ru retcha!” replied Scooby as they both made a beeline for the kitchen and its cavernously large adjoining pantry.

This left Velma to her own devices as usual. She looked for a way to get to the downstairs laboratory and stumbled in front of a large wooden planked door at the other end of the living area. “Jinkies! This must be it,” she said as she opened the large door while its rusty hinges made loud creaking noises in protest.