Ben Ravencroft

**Ben Ravencroft** was a famous horror writer from Oakhaven. His ancestor, Sarah Ravencroft, was an evil witch that had been imprisoned centuries ago. He tried to unleash her onto the world, only for her to turn against him, with both of them eventually being sucked into her spell book for all of time.

## Physical appearance

Ben was a tall male with a sturdy build. He had long, black hair tied in a ponytail with a goatee beard/mustache. He wore thin-framed glasses, and his attire consisted of a reddish-brown blazer over a black sweatshirt, matching brown trousers, a black belt, and black shoes.

## Personality

Ben was a highly intelligent, cultured and refined man who initially seemed to be decent and showed signs of reciprocating Velma Dinkley's romantic attraction to him. However, after he used the gang to achieve his goal of finding his ancestress' spell book, he revealed himself to be an evil, manipulative and sadistic megalomaniac with an ambition of world domination. Despite this, he had some honor in him, as he was horrified at the thought of world destruction, when it's revealed that his ancestor had no intention of ruling over the world with him. Also, despite his cunning tactics, he seemed to have a lack of common sense, since he believed with all his "warlock powers" he also could send his evil ancestor back into the book, but only to learn that only Wiccans could defeat Sarah.

## Powers and abilities

As a direct descendant of Sarah Ravencroft, Ben was a natural warlock, but it appeared that he needed Sarah's spell book to activate his otherwise-dormant powers.

After he obtained the spell-book and activated his dormant magic, he demonstrated powers such as telekinesis (advanced mental powers), animating inanimate objects, pyrokinesis (the ability to create and control fire), and unleashing energy blasts. However, his magic was revealed to be still far inferior compared to his ancestress, who trapped him in a ball of mystical green energy after he tried to imprison her back into the spell book, and he proved unable to escape by himself.

## History

### *Scooby-Doo and the Witch’s Ghost*

He appeared in a museum, helping the gang to solve a mummy mystery, claiming he had been doing research for a novel when he saw the archaeologists acting suspiciously, and decided to investigate. He then revealed he knew them by reputation, much to Velma's honor, as she was a huge fan of his, and he invited them to his hometown, Oakhaven.

However, upon arrival, Ben was surprised to find his hometown had become flooded with tourists because of the Autumn Fest and a concert featuring the Hex Girls, and was made uncomfortable to find the event was portraying his ancestress as an evil witch and ghost.

He spent time with the gang, while also talking about his ancestress, Sarah Ravencroft, desiring to find her journal to prove she had been a compassionate healer and Wiccan, not an evil witch. That night, he, Fred Jones, Velma, and Daphne Blake, ran into Scooby-Doo and Shaggy Rogers who claimed they'd been chased by the Witch's Ghost. They followed a source of light and witnessed the Hex Girls rehearsing for the concert. They introduced themselves as Thorn, Dusk, and Luna, and also fans of Ben.

After talking to them, Fred and Daphne stayed to keep an eye on them, while Velma, Ben, Scooby, and Shaggy continued the investigation. Velma sent Scooby and Shaggy to follow the mayor while she and Ben investigated an old barn. There, they found a cherry-picker truck, with the engine still warm.

Eventually, the gang and Ben uncovered the mystery: The Mayor, to raise Oakhaven's tourist industry, started the Autumn Fest and used Sarah Ravencroft's reputation as a witch for a gimmick. The townspeople had pitched in to help; Thorn's father, Mr. McKnight, had posed as the Witch's Ghost, using one of his daughter's props to throw flash-paper, mimicking fireballs. The local restaurant owner, Jack, had hoisted McKnight on the cherry-picker while it was driven by another participant, as was the fan used to create the eerie wind operated by another. Outraged, Ben expressed disappointment in the mayor and all the culprits in his scheme for dragging Sarah's name through the mud.

Later that night at Ben's house, he, the gang, and the Hex Girls were visited by the Mayor and Mr. McKnight, who came to apologize and explain why they had used Sarah's image: They discovered her gravestone while building the puritan village for their Autumn Fest but had found nothing else, no bones or Sarah's book.

Then a stray remark by McKnight enabled Velma to figure out where the book was buried. She and Scooby led them all to the big tree stump, where Scooby had found a "shoe buckle" earlier that day. Digging deeper, he found a chest, which contained the book Ben had sought for so long. However, much to the gang's horror, the book had a rather dark and sinister look — nothing comparable to an actual journal, as Velma stated upon seeing its cover and opening its pages.

It was there Ben revealed his true colors — he confirmed it was no journal but a spell book, that Sarah had indeed been a witch, and declared himself a warlock as a direct descendant of Sarah Ravencroft. He explained that Wiccans had imprisoned Sarah in her own spell book centuries ago, and that Velma helped him find it. Velma called him out for lying to her, but he showed no remorse for manipulating her, having searched years for the book, when he came upon her exploits.

He figured Mystery Inc., by their impressive reputation in solving mysteries, could surely help him find the book and then revealed their meeting was not coincidence: Ben was the one who engineered the mummy scheme, paying off the archaeologists and the security guards, just so they could meet. He didn't tell them the truth about the book or Sarah, knowing that if the gang had known the truth they would never have helped him.

Ben then declared that he would free Sarah and unlock her power. Reading a spell, he called upon the dark powers he had inherited from Sarah, and displayed some of his powers on them and then attempted to free Sarah, only for the gang to interfere. But in the end, Ben succeeded in summoning Sarah's ghost, only to realize she had no interest in ruling the world and would rather destroy it as revenge for her long imprisonment. Seeing his folly and repulsed by Sarah's destructive bouts, he attempted to seal Sarah back into the book, but she mocked his attempt, revealing that only a Wiccan could imprison her, and entrapped him within a barrier (which he couldn't escape by himself).

After a mad skirmish over the book, the gang delivered it to Thorn (who was of Wiccan blood on her mother's side) and she was successful in casting the spell to imprison Sarah just as the witch put her hands upon it in a vain attempt to stop her. But as she was sucked back into its pages, Sarah grabbed Ben by his ankle, declaring she would not go back alone, and Ben was dragged into the book with her, screaming in terror.

A flaming tree branch fell upon the book and burnt it, sealing the malevolent Ravencrofts inside it and ending their threat forever.

## Appearances

* DTV2. *Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost*

## Notes/Trivia

* Ravencroft's appearance resembles Stephen King when he was younger. His name resembles H.P. Lovecraft, both of whom were from New England and wrote widely respected horror novels.

* Similar characters in the Scoobyverse include Sheldon Keats in *The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries: Doom Service* and H.P. Hatecraft in *Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated:* *The Shrieking Madness*}.