Mental Floss has a clever little quiz in which you must determine whether various descriptions of bizarre crimes actually happened in real life, or are merely plots of various Scooby-Doo cartoons. I'd recommend taking the quiz before reading any further.

I surprised myself by actually scoring 9 out of 10. The only one I was fairly positive about was number four, as I'm fairly certain no Hanna Barbera cartoon would ever feature someone pointing a gun at someone else. At least, not lighter fare like Scooby Doo. I'm sure Batman has had various weapons aimed at him on more than one occasion.

I can't help but wonder how the Scooby gang might have handled some of the real-life cases, such as the disgruntled employee who pretended to be a ghost in a castle in Europe, or the man who dressed as a tree in order to rob a bank. To alter a quote from Bart Simpson: "no one expects the tree!"

If only all crimes could be solved by eating large sandwiches and chase scenes set to bubblegum pop music.

[via Boing Boing]