Accompanied by the howl of werewolves, Sir Graves would rise from his coffin to present classic horror films such as "Dracula" and "Frankenstein," as well as a collection of cheesy B movies sprinkled with brain eaters, swamp creatures, aliens and weirded-out teenagers, as well as bosomy damsels constantly in distress.

Between film clips, he entertained both old and young with horrible puns, terrible jokes, addled ad libs and an assortment of strange creatures, including a slightly disturbing creature called "The Glob" -- which was actually an upside-down close-up of Deming's mouth singing strange little ditties.

Sinking back into his coffin, Sir Graves' closing line was "Happy Haunting" spoken with a Vincent Price laugh that probably caused more giggles than chills.

According to Sir GravesGhastly.com, Deming started out as a puppeteer and came to Detroit in late 1966 from the "Woodrow the Woodsman" show in Cleveland. He accepted a spot as the host of a horror show on WKBK-TV (Channel 2) in 1967 and immediately started working on a character.

Aided by his wife, Mary Rita, he finally settled on the name Sir Graves Ghastly after rejecting Sir Ghostly, Sir Graves Ghostly and Sir Ghouly, among others. During the 15 years Sir Graves haunted local TV, Deming's character would visit schools, make appearances on charity-thons and respond to the thousands of letters he received from fans.

Funeral services will be held Sunday at the Zeis McGreevey Funeral Home, 16105 Detroit Ave., Lakewood, Ohio. In lieu of flowers, the Deming family requests that friends and fans please consider making a monetary contribution to the Cleveland Institute of Art.

Happy haunting, Sir Graves. You will be missed.