Pluck yer magic twanger overdey, Froggy:
The Ghoul, aka legendary ’70s TV horror host Ron Sweed, has died

Ron Sweed, the horror host who became a hit on early 1970s Detroit TV in a haze of firecrackers, absurdist humor and the never-ending torture of his sidekick Froggy, has died in Cleveland at the age of 70.

Friends say he had suffered a heart attack in November, and never fully recovered. Sweed died Monday, according to multiple family friends and a Facebook post by his ex-wife, Barbara J. King.

The census of things he destroyed with his omnipresent firecrackers on Channel 50 (WKBD-TV) was legendary: Mickey Mouse puppets, toilets, model airplanes and pierogi, among other things.

“He was the Hunter S. Thompson of trash,” said Jerry Vile, the Detroit artist, media maker and creator of The Dirty Show. “You didn’t have to be an adult to know he wasn’t playing by the rules. He was everybody’s introduction to anarchy. He influenced a lot of people. He was like the proto-punk. It was true revolution for the hell of it. Blowing up stuff with fireworks — we weren’t supposed to do that. But here he was, doing it on the TV.”