KALAMAZOO — Emily Midling wasn't thrilled with the beat-up Ford Explorer she bought in August.

There was something missing; she needed to spice it up a little.

"I wanted to make it fun to drive," said Midling, 22, who grew up in Kalamazoo.

That's the story of how the "Kalamazoo County Department of Zombie Removal" detailing on her car came to be. Midling paid $100 for the very official-looking emblem on both sides of the 1998 black SUV.

Midling, a 2006 Loy Norix High School graduate, fell in love with zombies ever since she first saw "Night of the Living Dead" at age 10.

"I thought it was the coolest thing ever," said Midling, who also collects zombie T-shirts and has a large tattoo of zombie praying hands on her right arm.

Wherever Midling goes, she gets stares or amused grins from strangers who notice the car parked at the South Westnedge Avenue Meijer where she works in the deli or see her driving around town.

Police have pulled her over just to admire her zombie-mobile. Teenagers crowd around it in the parking lot and pull out their camera phones. Photos of Midling's car even appeared on websites , such as collegehumor.com.

"Most people, they look over at a stoplight," she said. "They just take a quick look on their face, like did I just really see that? Then they laugh."

"Sometimes people's reactions are so funny, I can't help but laugh. It makes my day."

A few of her friends are embarrassed by the attention and won't ride with Midling. But most are entertained.

"It's amusing," said her brother Brent Midling, 24. "It almost looks like a government vehicle, but it obviously isn't. It's just understated enough that people do a double-take."

Some of Midling's friends joke the SUV is indestructible, as if it could really survive a zombie apocalyptic attack.

On Monday, Midling — and her car — were both unscathed after she crashed on US-131 going 70 mph as she drove home from her internship in Grand Rapids. The car landed on its side in a ditch, and other than a few dents and a broken passenger's mirror, the Ford Explorer was fine.

"It survived," said Midling, who studies journalism at Western Michigan University. "It's solid steel."