The Haunting of Castle Rich

The Haunting of Castle Rich is a Zillion Dollar Adventures segment from the Richie Rich cartoon series during the third season, as part of The Pac-Man/Little Rascals/Richie Rich Show. It first aired 9 October 1982 on ABC.
== Summary ==
On board a private double-decker bus in England, Richie is enjoying an afternoon of swimming in a pool, while Gloria is lounging on the deck in her swimsuit. According to legend, Castle Rich is haunted, but she wonders if that really is so. Dollar flies through the sunroof, but a mechanical hand saves him. A rainstorm starts and rain falls through the sunroof; Richie closes it just before arriving to their destination.
After arriving to the English castle, Richie and Gloria hear strange sounds in the castle, frightening Gloria. A dog snarls at Gloria, but then vanishes. Richie wonders if Dollar attacked her. Gloria says that while the dog looked similar to Dollar, it was not him, for that dog had English pound marks on his fur opposed to Dollar's namesake fur markings. They decide to hold a seance, with one of Professor Keanbean's devices emitted an ultrasonic noise that will attract ghosts. Sure enough, the "Pound" dog appears, along with three ghosts who bear a striking resemblance to Richie and his parents. The difference is that the ghosts speak with British accents and are wearing clothes which were the style in 18th-Century England. When they realize that Richie Rich is indeed a blood relative of theirs, they apologize for the earlier haunting, as that was part of the curse. Richie asks what "curse" they are referring to, and the ghosts explain in a flashback. 
In the 1780s, the nearby village was known as Richshire, which the Rich family owned much of and gave jobs to many villagers. The main business was the Rich Trust Bank, where the villagers entrusted their savings. Lord Rich owned the bank, and entrusted much of its day-to-day operations to a bookkeeper named Silas Grudge. One day Lord Rich opened up the bank only to find nothing in the vault save for a few cheap coins! An audit revealed a loss of over one million pounds. Public opinion turned against Lord Rich, and the Rich Trust Bank eventually went bankrupt and was pelted with stones and vegetables. Due to the embezzlement, Richshire spiraled into poverty. Lord Rich, along with his wife and son, retreated to the same castle that Richie and Gloria are now in. The angry townspeople accused the castle of being ill-gotten, and an old Gypsy woman invoked a curse on the Rich family, saying that since Lord and Lady Rich used their hard-earned money to buy the castle, they will live in it forever unless their innocence is proven before the law. As a result, after their deaths, they now roam the castle as lost souls, and will not be allowed to enter Heaven unless the truth behind the embezzlement is stolen. Lord Rich believes that there are ledgers which prove this, but he was unable to claim them upon being terminated from the bank. The following day, they go into the nearby village, which is now called Grudgeville. However, it looks trashy and run down, with hardly any businesses except the "Grudge Hardware Store" or "Grudge Market". Gloria suggests looking at the "Grudge Trust Bank", where they are greeted by Silas Grudge IV, whose ancestor was the bookkeeper to Lord Rich. 
The suspect nabbed Richie and Gloria, locked them up, and pilfered all of his devices invented by Professor Keenbean, except for his suction cup shoes. He descended by walking down the wall, and went to the private bus which would be raised to allow he and Gloria to escape. The suspect burned the original copies of the ledgers, but then learned there were duplicates. The suspect searched for the duplicates, but before succeeding, he was further haunted and chased by the ghosts, and eventually, he confessed to the ghosts as an official from Scotland Yard made an arrest.
Richie and Gloria have one final conversation with Lord Rich's family, mentioning that while Mr. Grudge is unable to be punished for the embezzlement since his ancestors committed the crime, but at least the Rich family name is cleared, and Mr. Grudge will have to find some way to makes amends to Richville. Richie and Gloria bid Lord Rich and his family farewell as they vanish and head to heaven.
Gloria is so relieved that she doesn't have to worry about ghosts again, until a knight walked towards them, causing her to worry. It was revealed that Dollar was the one wearing a knight's armor and was unable to take it off. Gloria asked Richie which of Professor Keenbean's inventions would come in handy, but Richie jokingly mentioned a can opener, which was obviously not an invention by Professor Keenbean, and Richie and Gloria laughed together as the segment comes to a close.
== Trivia ==
* This episode's title may have been inspired by the comic book story titles "They Say It's Haunted!" and "The Ghost of Rich Castle", both of which were republished earlier in 1982, the latter in Richie Rich Vacations Digest #8 released in June 1982.
** This episode also contained some elements from the comic book story "The Séance at Spectro Castle" (then recently re-published in Richie Rich Million Dollar Digest #4), as there was communication with the spirits involved, as well as an ancestor also named Silas.
* Gloria is seen wearing a swimsuit at the beginning of this segment. She would also wear one in "One of Our Aircraft Carriers Is Missing", "Young Irona", "Giant Pearl" and "The Snowman Cometh".
* Gloria was lounging on the pool deck, and not seen in the pool, possibly proving that Gloria truly is unable to swim, as she previously mentioned in "Voodoo Island. However, Gloria was seen swimming in "Young Irona", if using flotation devices.
* Richie wore suction cups on his feet to efficiently access the bus to get something, and Gloria told him to be careful, even though she and Richie previously wore them in "The Day the Estate Stood Still" in Season 2.
** Richie also wore suction cups on his feet in "Phantom of the Movies" during Season 1.
== Voice Cast ==
* Nancy Cartwright as Gloria Glad
* Joan Gerber as the ghost of Lord Rich's wife
* Stanley Jones as the ghost of Lord Rich
* Sparky Marcus as Richie Rich and the ghost of Lord Rich's son
* Frank Welker as Dollar the Dog and the ghost of Lord Rich's dog
Category:Richie Rich
Category:Richie Rich episodes
Category:TV Episodes
Category:Cases set in England
Category:Richie Rich Zillion Dollar Adventures segments
Category:The Funtastic Index