What started as a fun Saturday morning cartoon starring Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and, of course, his cowardly, bungling Great Dane Scooby-Doo has exploded into a global franchise worth billions of dollars. Scooby-Doo smoke weed in hippie car shirt But for decades it has been dogged by conspiracy theories.

Ever since Scooby-Doo first aired, there have been suggestions that the show is full of thinly veiled innuendoes and hidden inside jokes about drug use, as well as the suggestion that Shaggy was a secret stoner, Fred was gay and Velma might be a lesbian. And yet the winning formula never seems to grow old. Episode after episode sees a van full of hapless, hungry teenagers break down on a foggy night, conveniently close to a spooky mansion, abandoned warehouse or disused funfair.