I have always credited The Addams Family and The Munsters with feeding, if not inspiring, my early love of the Gothic and the macabre, but I never really thought about how much Scooby Doo fit that same genre in so many ways until I read this great article on CrimeReads.
I was certainly watching those things on TV before I was reading anything Gothic. I think my first Gothic read was Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ when I was maybe 9 or 10.
Scooby Doo was always one of the cartoons I enjoyed, and I still say “Rut Roh!” in my Scooby voice when I have a feeling things are about to go badly.
I guess it’s fair to say that some of the TV I watched definitely did normalise the Gothic for me during my childhood, and opened me up to the darker side of storytelling.
I hope you find this article as interesting and enlightening as I did.
How Scooby Doo Revived Gothic Storytelling for Generations of Kids
WordyNerdBird 
I found it fascinating how the article highlighted Scooby Doo as a catalyst for normalizing the Gothic genre in children’s entertainment, much like my own experience with The Addams Family and The Munsters. As someone who also grew up watching these shows, I can attest that they did indeed pave the way for my later interest in Gothic literature, such as Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’. The article’s insight into how Scooby Doo revived Gothic storytelling for generations of kids is a great reminder of the impact of childhood media on our tastes and preferences.