Summoned by reclusive billionaire Hugo Howser, the gang finds themselves spending a night of fright in the haunted Savannah Hotel. In the company of magic-debunkers Penn & Teller, the teenage sleuths square off with the ghost of evil magician Dr. Madds Markson and his most famous act — a transformation into a huge monster.
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
- Anti-Villain: The monster of the week was Teller, who set the entire thing up to give Penn the effective fooling and thrilling scare he always wants but never gets during their exploits.
- Disney Death: Invoked; Teller disappears thanks to the ghost of Madds Markson, and shortly thereafter, the explosives get accidentally reset, forcing an emergency exit before the gang and Penn can find him. When the Savannah Hotel collapses, Teller is apparently still inside...but he's actually wearing the monster mask.
- Futile Hand Reach: When the Madds Markson Monster accidentally resets the explosives to go off in a minute, the gang immediately decides they need to split. Penn struggles against Fred (who tries to convince him it's too dangerous for him to go after the still-missing Teller) and reaches towards the inside of the building.
- Group Hug: Penn pulls everyone in for a hug after the final reveal.
- Hair-Raising Hare: The monster Madds Markson turned into as his best act is a human-sized, monstrous hare with the savagery people associate with carnivorous beasts.
- It's the Best Whatever, Ever!: After teasing him by claiming that he's seen the setup of the mystery a million times, Penn admits that Teller really got him and calls it the best present he's ever received.
- Ms. Fanservice: Daphne dresses as a magician's assistant revealing both cleavage and fishnet-clad legs. Not surprisingly, Penn selects her as his Lovely Assistant for the trap rather than Shaggy or Scooby.
- Nightmare Fetishist: Early in the episode, Penn gives a speech about how amazing scary experiences are and laments that in all his and Teller's tenure, they've never found anything real or thrilling. Teller refers to it later, confessing that he set up the entire mystery to give him that experience. Afterwards, Penn, gushing about how incredible the setup was, says that the whole adventure terrified him and it was crazy awesome.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Teller, who remains silent most of the episode in keeping with his stage persona, delivers an regular-length speech explaining that he concocted the entire mystery for Penn's benefit. Scooby is especially flabbergasted, even asking if the others knew Teller could speak.
- Race Against the Clock: The entire mystery has to be solved before the explosives placed around the hotel go off. Then the rabbit monster throws Fred into one of the charges, resetting the explosives for a minute and forcing the gang and Penn to escape the hotel before the charges detonate.
- Red Herring: The demolition boss seems like he might be the culprit. He wasn't seen when the Ghost attacked his employee and seems to hate Penn and Teller for exposing how magicians do their tricks (given that he's an amateur magician), but he never appears again and is not the monster.
- Rewatch Bonus: Hugo Houser has a very familiar voice after viewers find out that Teller was the culprit.
- Running Gag: Penn is constantly unimpressed with Teller's tricks...until the end.Penn: Really, Teller? [*insert trick that Teller just did*]? Seen it a million times.
- Running Gagged: After Velma reveals that the entire mystery was one big trick that Teller set up to fool his showbiz partner, Penn says again that he's seen it a million times...before admitting that he's just joking and that he found what Teller managed to accomplish incredible and highly entertaining.
- Say My Name: The rabbit monster knocks Fred into one of the explosives, resetting the timer for one minute and forcing the gang to take Penn and run, despite his protests that his friend is still missing in the building. Fred has to restrain him as he screams for Teller and tries to go back for him.
