With a flashback starting the episode as per usual, we see Little Shawn and Gus is 1990 too scared to go into the Haunted House, setting the stage of the hysterical episode that takes place at the Scarefest like that from Shawn and Gus’s childhood. Shawn and Jules are hiding their relationship from everyone at the precinct. They don’t want to be barred from working with each other because of their romantic entanglements. Juliet had bought two tickets to go to the Scarefest opening weekend, but Shawn is already going with Gus, who doesn’t know about the new relationship. Shawn’s waiting to tell him in a gentle way in order to spare his pal the hurt that the last third wheeling brought (Shawn and Abigail in Season 4). Shawn can’t get out of going with Gus, so he lies to Juliet and says he has a conflict and will go with her at a later date. They go to Scarefest, which is finally in Santa Barbara after a 15 year hiatus, and go in the Haunted House, just like when they were younger. And like when they were younger, Gus is terrified and has his eyes closed nearly the whole entire time. While Gus is distracted, Shawn witnesses someone get strangled. When Shawn tries to tell Carol who is working the ride about what he saw she won’t believe him seeing as it is a Haunted House with fake murders inside. Shawn and Gus then break into the Haunted House to look for the dead body, but it’s not in the coffin. While they’re snooping, the security bust them and they end up in Carnival Jail. At the jail, Shawn sees a picture of who had been murdered on the wall – the park president. And since the carnival itself has been looking for the president who missed an important meeting for over an hour, they start to believe Shawn. The gang goes back to the Haunted House and finds the president, dead, with a mask on ‘blending in.’ Shawn determines it’s a SCOOBY DOO CASE! Murder + Haunted House + Meddling Kids = JENKIES! ZOINKS! (Get ready for the references! In the show AND in this recap!) One of the carnival workers, Mr. Holloway, tells Shawn and Gus that he knows who the murderer is – Johnny Ricketts, a young boy who had died when he fell off the Ferris Wheel at the last Scarefest which had prompted the hiatus. Nobody really believes him because this is a Scooby Doo case, and to quote Michael Kelso (Ashton Kutcher) from “That 70’s Show,” when talking about Scooby Doo, “I kept thinking that maybe this time they’d catch a real ghost. But they didn’t. It was just an old guy.” Shawn and Juliet have their first real couple discussion, seeing as he lied to her about the carnival. He apologizes, and they determine that he will just be honest in the future. AWWWWWW <3 Shawn thinks that Holloway is the one that committed the murder and pinned it on ‘Johnny’ in order to get away with it. They go to the long flume to find him and question him only to discover that he’s been killed and left in the water. Shawn and Gus check the souvenir photos and see the same figure that had strangled the President in the picture – the ghost of Johnny Ricketts! Jenkies! Back at the station, Juliet discovers that the state never actually investigated into Rickett’s ‘accidental’ death at Scarefest. Suspicious… Lassie accuses Shawn of backing Shawn too much in this case, and she reassures him that he is her partner so she will always back him, even in Scooby Cases. To which Lassie asks, “Is that why he keeps calling me Velma?” LOLZ Shawn and Gus break back into the Carnival Jail to check out the archives in the offices to find out more about Johnny Ricketts. Shawn discovers that the statements about the accident had been falsified and that $350,000 dollars had been paid to the family of Johnny Ricketts and to a girl named Jamie Emerson. Eve, one of the people who works in the office, comes in and asks them about why they’re there. Shawn and Gus then counter with a question about Jamie Emerson. Ever gets scared and run away without answering. Shawn and Gus then go to the police station when they put the pieces together. Jamie Emerson had been on the ride with Johnny Ricketts. They had both fallen because of negligence, so the carnival had paid the families off to keep them quiet. Jamie’s now pretending to be Johnny Ricketts and killing off everyone who had been involved in the death of her friend. Yoinks! Time to go head over to the carnival and protect the last one left – Eve! Shawn and Gus arrive to find that Carol, who hadn’t believed Shawn about the murder in the Haunted House, is actually Jamie Emerson! Jenkies! And she has an accomplice! Todd! The guy who magically guesses weights at the carnival! And he has a gun! Shawn and Gus and run and hide for their lives behind fake gravestones. Shawn, fearing for his life, then confesses to Gus that he’s seeing Juliet. Gus isn’t shocked or upset. After all, Shawn’s been trying to date Jules for five years. It was bound to happen eventually, so Gus isn’t too shocked. Shawn then gets upset because Gus isn’t upset. Todd then find them with his gun and just when he’s about to shoot, Jules comes and knocks him out. Lassie comes, with Carol handcuffed, and our villains’ plots are foiled! If it weren’t for those meddling kids…
Original Author: Alyssa Leventhal