Banri Bancroft

Banri Bancroft is the main antagonist of the 2001 animated film Didgeridoo and the Witch's Ghost.

He is a famous horror writer descended from an evil witch named Sora Bancroft, who had been imprisoned in a spellbook centuries before. He is also the former idol and now archenemy of Molly.

Biography[]

Banri first appeared in a museum, helped the gang to solve the Babylonian Mummy mystery, claimed that he had been doing research for a novel when he saw the archaeologists acting suspiciously, and decided to investigate. He then revealed he knew them by reputation, much to Molly's honor, as she was a huge fan of his, and he invited them to his hometown by the name of Snow Hills.

However, upon arrival, Banri was surprised to find his hometown was flooded with tourists because of the Winter Festival and a concert featuring the Hex Princesses, and was angered to find out that his ancestress had gained publicity as an evil witch.

He spent time with the gang, while also talking about his ancestress, Sora Bancroft, and desired to find her journal to prove she had been a compassionate healer and a Wiccan, not an evil witch. That night, he, Buster, Molly, and Harley, ran into Dingo and Didgeridoo who claimed that they had been chased by the Witch's Phantasm. They followed a source of light and witnessed the Hex Princesses rehearsing for the concert. They introduced themselves as Spike, Twillight, and Selena, and were also fans of Banri.

After they talked to the Hex Princesses, Buster and Harley stayed to keep an eye on them, while Molly, Banri, Dingo, and Didgeridoo continued the investigation. Molly sent Dingo and Didgeridoo to follow the Mayor while she and Banri investigated the boathouse. There, they found a cherry-picker truck, with the engine still warm.

Eventually, in the next morning, the gang uncovered the mystery: The Mayor started the Winter Festival and used Sora Bancroft's reputation as a witch for a gimmick to increase Snow Hills' popularity, and all of the townspeople had pitched in to help: Spike's father, Mr. Young, had posed as the Witch's Phantasm and used one of his daughter's props to throw fireballs. The local restaurant owner named Jackie had hoisted Young on the cherry-picker while it was driven by the hardware store owner, and the fan used to create the eerie wind was operated by someone else. Banri scolded everyone involved in the scheme for lining their pockets by dragging Sora Bancroft's name through the mud.

Later that night at Banri's house, the gang was visited by the Mayor and Mr. Young, who came to apologize and explained why they had used Sora's image: they had accidentally dug up her grave. The town had found Sora's gravestone in a large bulldozed pile of dirt and rocks while building the puritan village for their Winter Festival but they had found nothing else.

However, a stray remark by Young led Molly to figure out where the book was buried. Dingo and Didgeridoo led them all to the big tree stump, where Didgeridoo had found an old shoe buckle earlier that day. As Didgeridoo dug deeper, he eventually found a box, which contained the book Banri had been searching for all those years. But upon seeing its sinister appearance, Molly became concerned and remarked that it did not seem to be a journal in any way.

It was there that Banri revealed his true colours: he confirmed it was not a journal but a spellbook. He then told everyone that Sora had indeed been an evil witch who had been imprisoned in her own spellbook by Wiccans. Molly called him out for lying to her, but Banri showed no remorse for manipulating her and told her that he figured Mystery Ltd. could help him after reading about their exploits. Banri also explained that their meeting was no coincidence: he was the one who engineered the whole mummy scheme, paying the archaeologists and the security guards, just so they could meet. He didn't tell them the truth about the book because if they had known they would never have helped him.

Banri declared that he would free Sora and unlock her power. Reading a spell, Banri called upon the dark powers that he inherited from Sora and then successfully freed his ancestor from her imprisonment. However he was horrified to learn that she did not have interest in ruling the world alongside him and instead intended destroy it as revenge for her imprisonment. Realizing his awful mistake, Banri attempted to reimprison Sora by casting a different spell, but it turned out to have no effect. Sora revealed that only a Wiccan could imprison her with the spell, and encased him within a shell of mystic energy, much to his anger.

After a mad skirmish over the book, the gang delivered it to Spike (who was of Wiccan blood on her mother's side) and she successfully cast the spell to imprison Sora just as the witch laid her hands upon it in a futile attempt to stop her. Banri was then freed from his bondage, but Sora quickly grabbed him by his ankle as she was sucked back into the pages, declaring that she would not go back alone. Banri struggled to free himself but was ultimately dragged into the book with Sora, screaming in terror. A flaming tree branch then fell upon the book and burnt it, sealing the malevolent Bancrofts inside for all eternity or killing them and ending their threats to the world.