If you walked up to one Nashville area family's home, you may think it was Halloween due to a zombie statue climbing out of the ground, but now the family's homeowner association says their zombie needs to go.

The Grinstead family has had their zombie, named "Clawed" in their yard near Percy Priest Lake for past five years.

"We could have gone with the traditional spelling, but C-L-A-W-E-D just really fit his personality and told you as much as you really needed to know about him." Jim Grinstead said.

Grinstead says his family has a specific sense of humor that makes Clawed a perfect fit for their home.

"I don't own guns, but I have a zombie, so it's my personal choice of defense system." Grinstead joked.

On Friday, Grinstead received a letter from the homeowners association that caught him off-guard.

"It had said, 'during a recent inspection of the neighborhood, we noticed that you have a zombie in your front yard that must be removed.'"

The letter caught Grinstead off-guard because no neighbors had ever complained about Clawed, and Grinstead believes this is a homeowners association going overboard.

"I don't have the freedom to pick what I want in my yard because somebody wants to read the rules so strictly that it can't allow for individuality? That's a shame." Grinstead said.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Clawed remained in the front yard, but Grinstead knows he'll have to claw his way somewhere else.

"To know that he's gonna have to go is like losing a family member, you know? It's disturbing." Grinstead said, adding that he had decided to move Clawed by the end of the week to avoid retribution from the homeowners association.