The gang return a lost dog to Cloudcuckoolander comedian Phyllis Diller and discover a plot to steal her jewels.
This episode contains examples of:
- Adam Westing: Diller exaggerates a lot of stuff about herself, like the number of times she has been married.note
- Cassandra Truth: Everyone ignores Shaggy when he tries to point out a Portrait Painting Peephole and other Sinister Surveillance their host doesn't know about.
- Concealing Canvas: Diller's jewelry is in a safe hidden behind a portrait of her first husband.
- Creepy Monotone: Lucas the butler and chauffeur is a suspect and has a grim monotone.
- Evil Grin: One of the villains smirks wickedly before pulling a bell rope so that the vibrations will drive Shaggy and Scooby out of their bell-tower hiding place. He and his partner both smirk a lot while chasing the gang into the laundry room.
- Formula-Breaking Episode: Downplayed. The episode still features criminals attempting to use belief in the supernatural to aid in their crimes, but it's more of a confidence scheme than a "Scooby-Doo" Hoax. The monster masks at the climax seem to be purely to conceal their identities, rather than to pose as actual monsters.
- Ill-Timed Sneeze: A dust cloud triggers Scooby's allergy while he and Shaggy are Hidden in Plain Sight.
- Keep the Reward: The gang refuses to accept a reward from Phyllis at the end.
- The Meddling Kids Are Useless: Two cops respond to a call about prowlers (although said prowlers were the gang rather than the bad guys), and arrest the jewel thieves with absolutely no help from the gang.
- Nosy Neighbor: Diller's neighbor loves spying on her house with binoculars in the middle of the night and is quick to call the police when she sees the gang entering through the window. It turns out that there are real burglars in the house, though, and the police arrest the thieves before the gang has a chance to trap them.
- Old, Dark House:
- Phyllis's mansion is an enormous, ominously decorated place located next to a graveyard.
- The Magic Mansion, a hotel and theater that Phyllis and the gang visit, is probably meant too look spooky to evoke this trope for the customers, and its state of ill repair doesn't help.
- Police Are Useless: Completely averted — the police arrive on the scene of a reported break in (ironically it was a snoopy neighbor mistaking the gang for burglars) and capture the thieves as they break into a safe with no direct help from the gang.
- Wasn't That Fun?: Uttered by Phyllis Diller after going down a trap door chute in a haunted castle."Wasn't that F-U-U-N, fun?"
