What the Hex Going On? (Where Are You!)

This article is about the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! episode. For the Yippee, Yappee and Yahooey short, see What the Hex Going On? (Yippee, Yappee and Yahooey).

What the Hex Going On?
Network	CBS
Premiere date	October 18, 1969
Music composed by	Ted Nichols
Director(s)	William Hanna
Voice director(s)	Joseph Barbera
Animation director(s)	Charles A. Nichols
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Title card

"What the Hex Going On?" is the sixth episode of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! season one. It aired on October 18, 1969 on CBS. It was produced and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, the founders of Hanna-Barbera Productions.

The gang visits their friend, Sharon Wetherby, at her estate, where the family has been cursed by the ghost of Elias Kingston, who wants her family's fortune.

Memorable quotes

Velma: Hey, look! Suitcases!
Daphne: Maybe somebody just moved in.
Shaggy: Then let's move out.

Fred: It will help if we can find another clue.
Shaggy: I've found one.
Fred: What is it?
(Shaggy points to the Ghost behind his shoulder)
Shaggy: Him…

Characters

Legend
Character debut	Speaking debut	Ep. debut	No lines	Mentioned

In order of appearance:

Character	Actor
Stuart Wetherby/Ghost of Elias Kingston	John Stephenson
Fred Jones	Frank Welker
Velma Dinkley	Nicole Jaffe
Daphne Blake	Stefanianna Christopherson
Shaggy Rogers	Casey Kasem
Scooby-Doo	Don Messick
Sharon Wetherby	Stefanianna Christopherson
Mr. Wetherby	Don Messick
Bulldog	Don Messick
Crystal Nerdlinger
Swami customer	Jean Vander Pyl

Organizations

• Mystery Incorporated

Locations

• Earth
  • United States
    • Wetherby Estate
    • Kingston Mansion
      • Kingston Mausoleum
    • Swami shop

Objects

• Scooby Snacks

Vehicles

• The Mystery Machine

Production

Development

Joe Ruby and Ken Spears either wrote or story edited, as they were unable to remember what they specifically did past the fifth episode.

Music

The theme song, "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?" was performed by Larry Marks, with lyrics and music written by David Mook, while Ben Raleigh wrote the music, respectively. The rest of the music was composed by Ted Nichols, who was credited as the musical director.

Release

Dates are in order of release:

• United States: October 18, 1969 at 10:30 am on CBS
• United Kingdom and Ireland:

Behind the scenes

• The title is a play on the expression, "What the heck's going on?"
• The 1966 soap opera Dark Shadows is referenced twice, with the first being the mansion, which also appears in the opening and closing credits, and Elias Kingston, who resembles the lead character and vampire, Barnabas Collins.
• When Fred tells Shaggy that he'd better throw his voice to make Scooby sound like a Swami, Shaggy agrees. Fred demonstrates that he knows about Shaggy's ventriloquism ability.
• Before using the fingerprinting kit which was supposed to be for the mausoleum doorknob (but ends up being Velma's hand due to confusion), Shaggy says he'll give it the "old Sherlock Holmes touch."

Errors

• As the gang drives to the Wetherby Estate, and Velma comments on how nice it is to be invited, Daphne has white sclera.
• When Scooby laughs after Shaggy uses the fingerprinting kit on Velma's hand instead of the doorknob of the Kingston Mausoleum, the door itself is missing.
• Shaggy is holding a map in the establishing wide shot of the Mystery Machine driving to the swami shop.
• After the levitating table crashes, the gang finds packed suitcases. Velma's mouth moves to the words "Maybe somebody just moved in," but it's Daphne's voice coming from Velma's mouth instead.
• When Uncle Stuart is unmasked, Daphne says "And by a clever use of make-up, he made himself look old," but Velma's mouth moves to those words.
• When the levitating table chases the gang, Velma says two of her lines: "It's after us," and "I've heard of flying saucers, but this is silly." The lens for her glasses is missing.
• Whilst this episode refers to the practice of crystal-gazing as crystalomacy, the actual term is crystallomancy.
• Much of the action takes place in either the Wetherby Estate, or the Kingston Mansion. Unfortunately, the backgrounds for the two are sometimes mixed up, unless the Wetherby Estate is really full of cobwebs.
• The clock in the background is set at 8:00 throughout the episode.
• The lights are on in the Kingston Mansion, even when Stuart is not in there.
• Daphne says Uncle Stuart is going into the mansion when he walks right past the front door.
• Why would Shaggy use roller skates inside the Kingston Mansion anyway? Even if the ghost would never catch him, it could still make enough noise to alert him as well as wake up the watchdog.
• Shaggy said that Uncle Stuart was wearing a blue suit, red tie, and tennis shoes. He was actually wearing a brown suit, a black tie, and dress shoes.
• For some reason, the skeleton is not wearing Uncle Stuart's glasses.
• The ghost threatens the gang and walks away. Curiously, they don't even try to follow him. 
• There must have been quite a few intruders and snoopers before the gang showed up for Uncle Stuart/Ghost of Elias Kingston to hire a watchdog to look after the mansion. It's also unknown of its fate after the episode. It's most likely the Wetherbys adopted the dog, or they and/or the sheriff took it back to the dog shelter.
• The fact that Velma brings the fingerprinting kit out of nowhere is likely toon physics. Also, using one looks quite professional of them, but the fact that they only use it this one time when they could've used it at any time would've been useful (which is most of the time), it just looks too convenient. Although perhaps using only once was intentional as it probably would be less fun to keep relying on it even if it does look odd only using it once.
• When the Ghost of Elias Kingston walked into the mausoleum it was actually already open so it would've been more obvious to do that, although perhaps they were assuming he would've opened and closed before. Of course, they would also have to assume he'd be the only one to touch it (which would probably be justified by it looking like it had been abandoned).
• Fred tells Shaggy for whatever reason to use the kit, instead of doing it himself or just asking Velma to use her own kit. He is considered leader after all.
• Once they get the ghost's fingerprints, they could've tried matching it with suspects to learn his identity, although this would've taken more time than they had. But then again Stuart expects to get the entire family fortune on the spot.
• While trapped in the mausoleum, Daphne passes a window with bars that only go partway up. It certainly looks like they could squeeze through there.
• Just how far is it from the Wetherby Estate to the Kingston Mansion? Stuart travels the distance on foot while the gang travels it using the Mystery Machine.
• It is shown that Uncle Stuart wore make-up to disguise himself as the ghost, somehow hiding his glasses and beard, which should've been at least partially visible.
• How does Sharon end up on the top deck suddenly, after being tightly tied up and gagged? Does the ghost let her go or something? It is likely that the gang found and rescued her off-screen.
• Although Sharon admits that she saw Uncle Stuart's wig blow off, she is still shocked when the gang unmasks the ghost.
• The camera used in the trap is supposed to be a closed-circuit TV camera, but Fred uses it as a projector.

Everlasting influence

The episode and characters have been referenced several other times in the Scooby-Doo media franchise:

• In the 2004 theatrical film Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, a live-action adaptation, the costume was donated to the Coolsonian Criminology Museum.
• The episode is redone in the 2006 video game Scooby-Doo! Who's Watching Who?
• The episode was rebooted in the 2015 Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! premiere episode "Mystery 101."

In other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
French	La Maison hantée	The Haunted house
Greek	Τι στο Καλό Συμβαίνει;	What the Heck is Happening?
Hungarian	Mi a csuda folyik itt?	What on earth is going on?
Italian	Che stregoneria è questa?	What sorcery is this?

Home availability

• In the United States:
  • April 13, 1999: Warner Home Video releases Classic Scooby-Doo!: Mystery Mask Mix-Up on VHS.
  • March 16, 2004: Warner Home Video releases Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete First and Second Seasons on DVD.
  • May 5, 2009: Warner Home Video releases Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: Volume 2: Bump in the Night on DVD.
  • November 9, 2010: Warner Home Video releases Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete Series (limited edition) on DVD.
  • November 13, 2012: Warner Home Video releases Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete Series on DVD.
  • May 23, 2017: Warner Home Video releases Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete First and Second Seasons (Hanna-Barbera Diamond Collection edition) on DVD.
  • December 12, 2017: Warner Home Video releases Hanna-Barbera Diamond Collection 4-Pack on DVD.
  • February 13, 2018: Warner Home Video releases Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete Series (repackaging) on DVD.
  • June 4, 2019: Warner Home Video releases Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete First and Second Seasons on DVD.
  • September 9, 2020: Warner Home Video releases Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete Series (limited edition) on Blu-ray Disc.
  • March 1, 2022: Warner Home Video releases Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete Series on Blu-ray Disc.
• In the United Kingdom and Ireland:
  • March 27, 2000: Warner Home Video releases Scooby-Doo!: Volume 1 on VHS.
  • June 20, 2005: Warner Home Video releases Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete First and Second Seasons on DVD.
  • November 21, 2011: Warner Home Video releases Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Complete Series on DVD.