31 Nights of Halloween - Night 24: That meddling dog...

Scooby-Doo is one of those Halloween-adjacent phenomena that keeps the spirit alive - or should I say DEAD? - throughout the year. Debuting in 1969, the Scooby gang investigated all manner of weird and slightly-Gothic mysteries, which inevitably turned out to have some mundane solution, after all. The tales hit a sustained nadir throughout the '70s and '80s with oddball guest "stars" and an insufferable puppy sidekick. Towards the end of the 1990s, however, the world of the gang began to darken, with actual monsters as the antagonists, culminating in a Blair Witch parody that was both timely and pitch-perfect, solidifying the new direction.

Speaking as someone who had followed along with Shag, Scoob, and the gang since their first appearance, this was a revivification your Humble Host met with mad, gleeful cackling. Still firmly gripping the hearts and minds of pop culture, Scooby Doo, Shaggy, Velma, Fred, and Daphne approach half a century of meeting the dark forces of the world on their own turf, which is often a burial plot. Let's go back to the beginning and watch our favorite paranormal sleuths in their original - and, in this Humble Host's opinion, best - intro.