What Does Scooby-Doo Have to Do with Five Western Mass Colleges?

There are lots of strange theories in the world pertaining to just about everything, from politics to science and even bleeding into pop culture and sports. I just stumbled across the strangest one I've heard in a while and it has to do with colleges right here in Western Massachusetts.

Apparently, there is a large contingency of people who subscribe to the theory that the characters in Scooby-Doo represent the well-known "Five Colleges" (or the Five College Consoritum) comprised four liberal arts colleges Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, in addition to University of Massachusetts Amherst, all located within very close proxiamitely to each other in Western Massachusetts.

Yes, really. Try and stay with me here.

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I always thought the psychedelic cartoon was just about some stoner friends looking for ghosts and solving mysteries in their sweet van, but low and behold it's allegedly a commentary on the typical personality type of students that attend. The explanation behind this phenomenon is generally attributed to the show’s creator being an alumni of one of those five schools, UMass.

Here's who's who:

• Scooby is from UMass, the kid who no one expected to make it to college
• Shaggy is from Hampshire College, the insightful, lovable, pothead
• Velma is from Smith College, the nerdy brain that never gets the credit she deserves
• Fred is from Amherst, the confident leader that pushes everyone forward
• Daphne from Mount Holyoke, the trust fund WASP with a heart of gold

Have you ever heard of this mystery metaphor?