The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo Intro

The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo.

This is a warning to all living mortals that whosoever opens this Chest of Demons will release 13 of the most terrifying ghosts upon of the face of the Earth! Only you can return the demons to the chest...because you let them out!

— Vincent Van Ghoul, in the original opening title sequence
In the initial episode, the gang are thrown off course on a trip to Honolulu in Daphne's plane, landing instead in Himalayas. While inside a temple, Scooby and Shaggy are tricked by two bumbling ghosts named Weerd and Bogel into opening the Chest of Demons, a magical artifact that houses the 13 most terrifying and powerful ghosts and demons ever to walk the face of the Earth. As the ghosts can only be returned to the chest by those who originally set them free, Scooby and Shaggy, accompanied by Daphne, Scrappy-Doo, and a young con artist named Flim Flam, embark on a worldwide quest to recapture them before they wreak irreversible havoc upon the world.

Assisting them is Flim Flam's friend, a warlock named Vincent Van Ghoul (based upon and voiced by Vincent Price), who contacts the gang using his crystal ball and often employs magic and witchcraft to assist them. The 13 escaped ghosts, meanwhile, each attempt to do away with the gang lest they are returned to the chest, often employing Weerd and Bogel as lackeys.

Fred Jones and Velma Dinkley were both absent in this incarnation. In Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost, it is revealed that they were away at summer camp.