Author's Notes: Scooby Doo and all related characters and trademarks are copyright 2009 Hanna-Barbera Productions/Warner Brothers/Cartoon Network. I am not making any money off of writing this story I am just a fan. Also this story will be similar to the 1980-82 Scary Scooby Funnies/Scooby and Scrappy Doo series but with Fred, Daphne and Velma instead of Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy Doo.
Author's Notes #2: Also, major thanks to millett20165 from the Velma Dinkley Yahoo Group who helped me out by giving me an idea and title for this story when I posted a message about getting some assistance in writing Scooby Doo stories, thank you very much for the help. The idea for this story came at least partially from the Pup Named Scooby Doo episode "Ghost Who's Coming to Dinner?" and partially from the Hanna-Barbera Productions cartoon series "The Funky Phantom". Also this story does include Scrappy but only in a small portion of it.
Chapter 1
Velma Dinkley, one of the members of the internationally known detective agency known as Mystery Inc. sat in an easy chair in the front room of the small house that she lived in, the house was a modest one-bedroom home located in the outskirts of Coolsville. The bespectacled girl was reading one of her favorite Sherlock Holmes stories: The Hound of the Baskervilles when she heard a knock on the front door; Velma put her book down, got out of her chair and walked over to the front door.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" the bespectacled investigator called as she approached the door.
She reached the door, turned the knob and opened it; in the doorway stood a man that looked to be in his mid thirties, he was wearing a dark blue delivery person's uniform along with dark blue pants and he was carrying a package wrapped in brown paper.
"I have a special delivery package for a Velma Dinkley" the man explained.
"Yes, I'm Velma Dinkley" she answered.
"Good, sign here please" the delivery person commented.
He gave a clipboard with a white piece of paper and a pen to Velma; she signed the paper and gave the clipboard back to him; the delivery person handed her the package and said his good-byes, she wished him goodbye and closed the front door.
With package in hand Velma walked back over to her chair and sat down; she looked at the package curiously and wondered what was in it.
She noticed the mailing address on the package and scratched her head.
"Hmm, according the package this was sent from England; do I know anyone over there?" Velma thought to herself.
Velma slowly opened the brown paper package; inside were various papers and a set of keys, she wondered why someone would send her something like this.
She then decided to read the letter and was somewhat surprised, even a bit shocked by its contents.
"Dear Miss Velma Dinkley, this is to inform you that you are the new owner of Dinkley Hall in the town of Dinkley, England; Dinkley Hall is an ancient castle which is the ancestral family home of the Dinkley family, please find enclosed in this package: papers detailing the history of the castle and surrounding area, plane tickets to England and a set of keys that will give you access to every room in the house and all of the buildings on the grounds; when you receive this package please use the plane tickets enclosed to travel to England at your earliest convenience, we hope that you have a good time in our country and we look forward to your arrival signed, Stephen Brownstein head of the Blackpool Historical Society", she finished reading the letter folded it up and placed it on a small table in the living room.
"Wow, I've wanted to visit my ancestral family home for many years and now I have a chance to do it" Velma thought.
Velma sat back down in her chair and pondered her current situation; after some thought she decided to call the rest of the gang about her upcoming trip.
"Hmm, I don't know where Shaggy and Scooby are so they probably couldn't join us; Fred and Daphne might be at home, I know both of them might be working on other things though; hmm, you know I think I'll see if they're busy, maybe they can accompany me to Great Britain" Velma thought to herself.
She then walked over to the phone and dialed Daphne's number; the phone rang a couple of times before Velma heard a familiar voice on the line.
"Hello this is Daphne Blake" called the voice.
"Daphne, it's me Velma" she replied.
"Oh hello Velma, what's up?" Daphne asked.
"Plenty, I just got a package from England saying that apparently I inherited my family's ancestral family home" Velma replied.
"Wow, that's terrific Velma, that sounds pretty exciting" she commented.
"Yeah, it is isn't it? Well, I figured that I could use a nice restful vacation, plus I haven't been to England in a while so I decided that I'm going to head over to Dinkley Hall and live there for a while" Velma replied.
"Sounds fun, Fred and I will visit you if and when we get a chance to, okay?" Daphne remarked.
"Sure Daphne, I would love to have you and Fred visit, looking forward to seeing you" Velma replied.
"OK, bye Velma, see you soon and have fun" Daphne said.
"Sure will, and thanks" Velma replied.
Velma hung up the phone and smiled at the prospect of her friends visiting her; she thought about calling Fred to let him know but she knew that Daphne would fill him in on the details.
After she hung up the phone Velma walked back into her bedroom and began packing for her trip to England; she took out a suitcase from her closet, filled it with clothes, a few books, various toiletries and other items that she might need for her trip.
The bespectacled girl then walked back out into the living room of the house and over to the phone; she looked through the yellow pages looking for a taxi to come and pick her up, she didn't have her own car yet so her only choices for transportation were taking the bus, walking or taking a cab.
After finding the phone number of the Speedy Taxi Service she called the number given and told them she needed to be taken to Coolsville Airport; after giving the person who answered her address, she hung up the phone and waited.
Ten minutes later Velma looked out the window and saw a bright yellow cab parked in the driveway, she grabbed the package she had been sent along with her house keys and her suitcase and walked out the front door; the bespectacled girl locked the house up and walked over to the taxicab.
The front window of the cab slowly rolled down and a well-dressed man in his forties wearing a dark blue shirt and brown cap answered, the man smiled at Velma as she walked up to the vehicle.
"I'm here to pick up a woman named Velma Dinkley and take her to the Coolsville Airport, are you her?" the man asked.
"Sure am, and I'm all set to get going" the bespectacled girl replied.
"Excellent, if you'll buckle up please we can head out on our way" the man said.
Velma complied with the cab driver's request and buckled her seatbelt, after making sure she was safely secured in her seat the driver started up the car's engine and the vehicle drove out of the driveway headed towards the airport.
While he managed to keep his eyes on the road the man was quite curious as to what his passenger was going to do once she arrived at the airport, so he decided to ask make pleasant conversation with his passenger.
"So your name's Velma, correct?" the man asked.
"Yep, what's yours?" Velma replied.
"My name's Jonathan, I've been driving a cab for about five years now" the driver responded.
"That sounds interesting, do you like driving a cab?" Velma asked.
"Sure do, you meet a lot of interesting people in this job, sometimes it can be a pretty humdrum activity but it can be exciting on occasion; by the way miss, what do you do for a living and what brings you to the airport?" the driver asked.
"I'm a member of a detective agency called Mystery Inc. with my friends, actually you might have heard of us: their names are Shaggy, Scooby, Fred and Daphne" Velma explained.
"Hmm… you know I do seem to remember your names from somewhere; private detectives huh? That sounds pretty exciting" the driver replied.
"It sure is, and I have great friends to help me; I just wish they were coming along with me" Velma replied with a sigh.
"Oh? Where are your friends anyway?" the driver asked curiously.
"Shaggy and Scooby are somewhere with our van, and Fred and Daphne are working on various things at home but they said they would try and visit me soon" Velma replied.
"Sounds good, so where are you headed off to?" the driver asked.
"I received a letter from England which said that I have inherited my family's ancestral home, so I decided to fly there and live there for a while" Velma replied.
"Sounds interesting, hopefully you'll have a nice trip" the driver said.
"Thank You and I certainly will" Velma remarked.
The taxi cab continued through the small town of Coolsville and after about ten more minutes the bright yellow vehicle reached it's final destination; the cab pulled up to the curb making a stop outside the area that Velma was to go to catch her plane, she then paid for her cab fare and bid goodbye to the friendly cab driver as she exited the vehicle.
The bespectacled teenage sleuth entered the airport and walked to the ticket counter to check in, making sure that her ticket was for the correct flight and time; the ticket agent at the counter looked at the ticket and told her where the gate was that she was going to catch her flight at.
Velma thanked the agent and went on her way; the bespectacled girl sleuth walked through the airport, through security checkpoints and past numerous food stands, as well as numerous souvenir, newspaper and magazine stands before finding her gate.
After waiting a while a voice came over the airport loudspeaker telling the passengers to board the flight that Velma was scheduled to be on; the teen sleuth walked to the boarding gate, presented her ticket to the agent there and walked through the door towards the plane.
The bespectacled teenage sleuth walked on board the plane which was filled with hundreds of passengers; there were men, women and children of varying height and descriptions, as she found her seat Velma wondered where all of her fellow passengers were heading, however the teen sleuth knew exactly where she was heading and looked forward to getting in the air.
After going through the usual pre-flight procedure the plane taxied onto the runway, then started to gain altitude, finally the aircraft climbed into the air and began its trip across the Atlantic to Great Britain.
The bespectacled girl's flight was somewhat uneventful, during which Velma read a couple of the books that she had brought with her; she also had a conversation with the passenger who sat next to her, in this case a man in his mid twenties who told Velma he was attending college in England and was heading back there after some time in the United States visiting family.
For the last past of the flight Velma laid back in her seat and took a nap, she slept fairly pleasantly the whole time and wished that the rest of Mystery Inc. was going along with her as she was not used to taking a vacation by herself; however, she realized that at least Fred and Daphne would be coming to visit eventually so she wasn't too upset.
After several more hours Velma's plane landed at the Blackpool airport, she got off the plane and prepared to start her journey; after walking into the airport she found the rental car terminal and bought a medium-size red Volvo to drive.
Before leaving the airport she asked the rental car clerk about getting directions to Dinkley Hall; the clerk gave her the directions she asked for and went on her way.
Velma then opened the door to her rental car, got it and started on her way to her ancestral family home; she hoped that this trip wouldn't be too boring and that she would have some excitement while she was in England.
Velma had driven for about an hour and a half before reaching the small town of Dinkley; as she drove she marveled at the town which included several homes, a few small motels and various other buildings; also in the town were a suspension bridge which spanned the Ribbel River and numerous trees and plants.
Velma guided the red car through the main part of town past the buildings and trees and such; after a few minutes Velma found herself on the outskirts of the small village; she could see a large imposing structure in the distance.
She drove on as the small hamlet of Dinkley became merely something in the car's rear view mirror; as Velma's car continued on its way the imposing structure became bigger and bigger.
Velma stopped the car for a second as she could see a small sign posted at the side of the road.
"Dinkley Hall: 5 Kilometers" Velma said as she read the sign to herself.
The car continued down the small country road towards Dinkley Hall; the road that had been paved concrete was now a dirt road, Velma held on tightly to the wheel because she could see that the road was becoming a bit bumpy.
Finally Velma noticed that the large castle that had been in the distance was coming into view; it was becoming increasingly clear to her that Dinkley Hall was an imposing structure, the house featured two levels, several gargoyles which sat atop both sides of the castle roof as well as two main columns which were attached to what looked to be a large grey entryway.
Velma drove the car up the small driveway, parking it in front of the building; after which she turned off the engine and took her luggage from the vehicle.
She walked up to the large front door and used the gold doorknocker to try and get the attention of whoever was in the house.
After a few minutes of waiting Velma could hear footsteps coming from inside the house; the footsteps were beginning to get louder as Velma began to realize that someone was indeed coming.
The large metal door opened with a loud squeak and an older man with a mustache wearing a black suit, black pants and brown shoes answered.
"Yes, how can I help you?" he asked.
"Hello my name is Velma Dinkley, I received the package that the historical society sent me" Velma replied introducing herself.
"Oh, yes Miss Velma; we've been awaiting your arrival for some time now" the man commented.
"You have?" Velma asked curiously.
"Yes, I am quite happy that you arrived at Dinkley Hall; I understand that you came from the United States, was it a long journey?" the man asked.
"It seemed like it but it really wasn't that bad, by the way who are you?" Velma asked.
"Oh, forgive me; my name is Michael Collins, I am the caretaker of Dinkley Hall" he replied.
"Nice to meet you Mr. Collins" Velma responded.
"Yes it's nice to meet you as well; now if you will being your luggage inside I can show you the house and where you will be living" Mr. Collins replied.
"Sounds fine to me" Velma said.
Velma took her luggage out of the rental car and followed Mr. Collins into the house; the two of them walked into the front area of the hall.
The bespectacled girl found herself looking around as she walked through the cavernous front hall; while walking through the hall she noticed literally dozens of paintings, sculptures and other miscellaneous works of art throughout.
"My goodness, there certainly are a lot of portraits in here" Velma remarked.
"Yes, those are portraits of the various members of the Dinkley family over the generations" Mr. Collins explained.
"Like this one for example" Mr. Collins said as he showed Velma a portrait that hung on a nearby wall.
"This is a painting of your great grandmother Marilyn; she lived here along with her husband in the late 1800's" he explained, the picture was of a brunette haired woman that looked very similar to Velma; except for the fact that the woman in the picture had somewhat longer hair and wore a style of glasses similar to Benjamin Franklin's spectacles.
"Jinkies, what a neat portrait" Velma commented.
"Jinkies? Hmm… I've never heard that expression before" he replied.
"Really? Well it's kind of something I came up with a long time ago, it usually comes in pretty handy in my line of work" Velma commented.
"I've been meaning to ask you about that Miss Dinkley, what exactly is your line of work?" asked Mr. Collins.
"Well, my friends Fred, Daphne and Shaggy along with our dog Scooby Doo used to work as Private Detectives traveling all over the world solving various mysteries, although at the moment each of us are pretty much doing our own separate things, basically we're all taking sometime off from the mystery business; actually for several years, I worked as a research scientist at National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA for short, it was a pretty fun job and I enjoyed it very much, in fact I still have a few friends at NASA and I'll have to contact them one of these days " Velma explained.
"How interesting, you know I believe I saw something about NASA on the telly a while back, I think it was the moon landing with astronauts from the states if I remember correctly" Mr. Collins explained.
"The telly?" Velma replied with a quizzical look on her face.
"Yes, that's what you Americans would call television" Mr. Collins explained.
"Oh I see; so, you saw the moon landing over here on television or the telly as well?" Velma asked.
"That's right, it was quite thrilling and we really enjoyed over here" Mr. Collins replied.
"Terrific, the next time I talk to any of my colleagues at NASA, I'll have to tell them that people in Britain are interested in the US space program as well" Velma replied.
"By all means Miss Dinkley, I know I speak for many Brits when I say that we enjoy American culture; of course you yanks did beat us in the Revolutionary War but I won't hold that against you" Mr. Collins said with a half smiling half serious look on his face.
"Oh don't worry I won't hold that against you if you don't it against me" Velma replied with a chuckle.
"Sounds fine to me, by the way where are your friends now?" Mr. Collins asked.
"Well, Shaggy and Scooby took our van The Mystery Machine and are somewhere in the world; we haven't heard from them in quite a while, actually the last time we heard from them they were doing some odd jobs somewhere in the Pacific Northwest" Velma replied.
"That sounds very interesting; tell me what about your friends Fred and Daphne, where are they and what do they do for a living now?" he asked.
"Well, Fred and Daphne are back in the states, they may be heading over here to visit me though; actually when I worked at NASA Fred was a mystery writer and Daphne wrote for a magazine, so I guess you could say both of them liked to write quite a bit" Velma replied.
"Interesting, I may have to look up some of your friend's books or articles one of these days" Mr. Collins explained.
"I'm sure Fred and Daphne would both appreciate that" Velma replied.
"Yes I'm sure they would and it will be nice to meet them if they decide to visit here" Mr. Collins remarked.
"Thank you and I'm hoping they will come over here" Velma said.
"Miss Velma, I'm curious about something" Mr. Collins said.
"Very well" Velma replied.
"You mentioned that you and your friends work as private detectives; have you read any of the Sherlock Holmes stories" Mr. Collins asked.
"Of course I have, those are some of my favorite detective stories" Velma replied.
"Really, I never realized how popular Sherlock was in the states" he commented.
"Yes, he is quite popular in our part of the world" Velma remarked.
"Very good, by the way does your friend Fred write any stories similar to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle?" he asked.
"It really depends on his inspiration I guess, but most of the time his stories are supernatural based, although from what I remember there were quite a few Sherlock Holmes stories that dealt with the supernatural and the macabre" Velma replied.
"My my Miss Dinkley I'm quite impressed, actually Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did write a few Holmes novels with supernatural elements and I'm sure you've read them" Mr. Collins said.
"Yes I have, they're quite exciting" Velma replied.
"Ah excellent" Mr. Collins said.
"Mr. Collins, can you tell me where the room that I will be staying in is located?" Velma asked.
"Gladly Miss Dinkley, your room is at the top of the staircase, we should be there in a few moments" he replied.
The two of them then walked up the large winding old fashioned staircase and into a long hallway filled with numerous doors; eventually Mr. Collins led her to a room at the beginning of the hallway.
"Here you are Miss Dinkley, this will be your room for the duration of your stay" he said as he showed her around the room; it was a fairly regular sized bedroom with two nightstands, a closet, a lamp, a chest of drawers, a closet and a few other miscellaneous items.
"What a charming room, I'm certain that I will enjoy my stay here" Velma remarked.
"Very good, I'm confident that you will enjoy yourself as well" Mr. Collins replied.
"Thank You Mr. Collins, I greatly appreciate your help" Velma said.
"You're very welcome Miss Velma, if you need anything you can come find me" he replied.
"Thank You, if I have any questions or if I need anything I certainly will let you know" Velma said.
"Oh, I almost forgot; one more thing I should probably mention before I go, it would be best if you were very careful around here" Mr. Collins said.
"How come?" Velma asked.
"Well, you see Miss Velma; Dinkley Hall is how shall I put this, haunted" Mr. Collins explained.
"Haunted?" Velma asked curiously.
"Yes, haunted, spooked, ghost filled; whatever term you would use to describe a situation like this" Mr. Collins replied.
While Velma went over this information in her mind, she began to chuckle slightly, which caused Mr. Collins to respond to her statement, although it became apparent to the bespectacled girl that he wasn't too pleased with her most recent.
"I don't see what's so funny about your ancestral family home being haunted" he replied with a slightly annoyed tone in his voice.
"I'm sorry Mr. Collins, It's just that, well in all my years of detective work very few of the ghosts and supernatural creatures that my friends and I have encountered have turned out to be real" Velma explained.
"Well, I don't know about that but I do know that in this case the ghost is real" he commented.
"We'll see about that" Velma said.
"Fine, but just be very careful" Mr. Collins replied.
"I will Mr. Collins, I will" Velma commented.
Mr. Collins left the room, walked down the hallway and out of Velma's sight.
Velma unpacked her luggage, put her clothes away and put the luggage in the closet that was located on the side of the bedroom.
For the rest of the day Velma began to explore the several hundreds of rooms in Dinkley Hall; she explored the library, the kitchen and many other rooms in the house.
After having dinner, taking a shower and doing some light reading Velma went to sleep still thinking about her first day at Dinkley Hall.