Random Dark Scooby-Doo Fan Theories (15 items)

(#15) The Gang Are On A Paid Escape Room-esque Mystery Tour

According to one fan theory, the gang isn't actually solving real crimes. They're in an intense, real-life version of an escape room – a popular team-building activity. Why does their van always mysteriously break down where a crime needs to be solved? Because it's all part of the act. The rubber masks explain it all. Would a real criminal think that'd fool anyone?

Police would catch them in a heartbeat. It might also explain why such scaredy-cats - that is Shaggy and Scooby - are involved with a mystery-solving team.
(#12) The Whole Show Takes Place In Purgatory

It makes sense that everywhere the gang goes is creepy, abandoned, and riddled with questionable characters - it's because they're in purgatory. The good guys bounced up to heaven and the bad ones - or the ones stuck on the fence - are in limbo.
This theory suggests that the gang were driving in the Mystery Machine when it crashed and they all died. Scooby was sent to them as a spirit guide. The monsters are real-life demons and Scooby-Doo defeats them because he's the only one who can. He's the only member of the group without sin: Fred and Daphne clearly had premarital relations, Shaggy is a drug addict, and Velma may just be a lesbian (which isn't wrong by any means, but it was 1969).
(#8) Shaggy Is A Clueless Wizard

According to a Tumblr fan theory, Shaggy is a magical wizard – he's just too dopey to know it. When it comes down to it, Shaggy is always somehow embroiled in the paranormal. He can levitate, he pulls things out of nowhere, he once painted a doorway that then became real. He once held his breath for three hours and has performed impossible acrobatic stunts.

He even unwittingly casts a spell in an episode titled "Highrise Hairraiser," invoking other magical beings to come out of the woodwork and help him. None of the other characters can do anything remotely magical.
(#9) Each Episode Is An Acid Trip

Why can Shaggy talk to his dog? Why are there so many ghosts? Maybe because the entire series is an LSD-induced hallucination. Scooby definitely can't talk, if he's even actually there at all. The ghosts that make Shaggy so paranoid aren't actually there. This is why the rest of the gang generally stays so calm despite Shaggy's terror. It's a bad trip, man. Wait it out and lay off the Scooby Snacks.
(#11) Scooby Was In A Lab Experiment And Is Now Dependent On Drugged Scooby Snacks

This fan theory by Reddit user quackdamnyou is a little bit complex. Velma - the smart, quirky brains of Mystery Inc. - went rogue during her internship at a lab developing top secret weapons.
"Velma can be explained. See she worked as an intern at a lab that was working on developing a secret weapon: super intelligent canine warriors. She experienced an attack of conscience and escaped with one of the subjects, who requires daily doses of the active agent in order to retain his functions. Velma took to baking the drug into small cookies. Shaggy, not really understanding, tried one of these in a bout of munchies and now he too is dependent on the agent. A side effect of this alteration is that they have developed an incredibly high metabolism and insatiable appetite."
Let's hope Velma never runs out of Scooby Snacks.
(#14) The Mystery, Inc. Crew Are In A Cult

According to Reddit user RADDman "the gang" actually make up a secret cult. They drive around the country solving fake mysteries to rope people into their teachings. The mystery solvers are always dressed relatively conservative, even though 1969 was the height of the free love movement. It is, however, common for cults to wear old-fashioned clothes. They also are obsessed with the paranormal and set in their beliefs about paranormal entities.
DrinkyMcIrish suggests that Velma is the mastermind, though she uses the handsome-but-not-especially smart Fred Jones as a front for their charismatic leader. Shaggy is a stoner who'd do whatever for his Scooby Snacks (drugs) and Daphne just isn't that smart. She seems exactly like the kind of girl who'd fall for a cult leader because he's handsome and claims to love her.
Mystery Inc. may very well be the Manson Family.