Scrooge, the nephews, and Webby visit Scrooge's ancestral home in Scotland, only to be embroiled in a mystery surrounding Castle McDuck, involving Druids and a Ghost Hound from Scottish Mythology.
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Circle of Standing Stones: Scrooge initially points some of these out during the train ride. It turns out one was used as the basis for Castle McDuck to save on building costs. (If the viewer has a good memory or knows what to look for, this can even be seen in the castle's main hall before The Reveal.)
- The Dreaded: Crossed with Speak of the Devil, but this is how everyone in the region has come to view Castle McDuck, to the point they run away screaming whenever its name is mentioned.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Webby comments on young Scrooge wearing a skirt, saying she hopes he kept out of the wind (as a reference to the Marilyn Maneuver). However, Scrooge, as all Ducks in universe, does not even wear any pants normally.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: The leader of the Druids, after his fellow worshipers are captured and the "Hound" has turned on him, surrenders quite willingly.
- Laser-Guided Karma: The Druids believe Scrooge and his family are suffering this (with their assistance) because they were profiting off of Silas having stolen the Druids' land and building his castle atop their stone circle. In the end, mistreating the "ghost hounds" to make them mean leads to them turning on the Druids, after the nephews and Webby befriend and feed the latest one.
- Origins Episode: Well, partially. Scrooge does admit that he only spent 6 years at Cottage McDuck before moving to the US, but this episode also reveals that Scrooge's family used to be an Old Money Scottish clan, hence Castle McDuck.
- Piggy Bank: Scrooge shows his nephews and Webby his homemade childhood piggy bank. When he realizes that there's some money in it, he tries to force it open, only to be socked by a spring-loaded punching glove young Scrooge evidently installed as a booby trap.
- Shout-Out: To The Hound of the Baskervilles.
- Shown Their Work/Artistic License – Religion: On the one hand, what little is shown of the Druid rituals/way of life is fairly accurate, if in a Broad Strokes sort of fashion, and having them be demonized by Silas McDuck as villains is certainly true to history (for pagans in general, but also the Druids specifically). On the other hand, it has never been conclusively proven that the old standing stones of the British Isles were (all) used in Druid ceremonies note , and it seems a bit out of character for nature-worshipers to be cruel to animals (though this could be justified by their desperation, and what is seen as cruelty to animals
changes with the times - remember that many pagans didn't think twice about sacrificing animals, either). - Take a Third Option: It seems as if the only options are to let the Druids keep using their "curse" to keep everyone (including the McDucks) away from the castle so they can hold their ceremonies in peace, or for them to be driven away and lose their heritage. Scrooge comes up with another plan—making money out of it (what else?) by turning the castle into a tourist attraction by day and splitting the profits, then letting the Druids keep having their ceremonies at night.
- Tempting Fate: Thinking the Druids all disappeared centuries ago, it turns out.
- Viewer Gender Confusion: In-Universe by Webby, when she sees young Scrooge in a kilt.
- Written by the Winners: Scrooge learns his ancestor was not the admirable, hard-working duck he believed him to be, since the truth of how he obtained the land for his castle (and who the villain of the piece was) is of course not what made it into the history books/family legends.
