A Nashville man says his homeowners association ordered him to remove this zombie statue from his front yard. Screenshot: WKRN-TV

NASHVILLE, April 26 (UPI) -- A Tennessee man said he finds it "utterly ridiculous" that his homeowner's association is ordering him to remove his front-yard zombie statue after five years.

Jim Grinstead said he and his wife have occupied their Nashville home for nearly 10 years, and the zombie statue they affectionately dubbed "Clawed" has been in their front yard for the past five years.


He said he was surprised to receive a letter from the homeowners association ordering him to do away with the statue, which depicts the head and arms of a zombie climbing up out of the ground.

"During a recent inspection of the community on April 19, 2016, it was noted that there is a zombie in your yard that needs to be removed," the letter reads.

"At first I was pissed, but then I thought about it for a second and I said, 'this is utterly ridiculous,'" Grinstead told the New York Daily News.

Grinstead said he has never received a complaint about the statue until now.

"I think the homeowner's association needs to lighten up a little bit," Grinstead told WKRN-TV. "We have a sense of humor and that is how we want the world to think of us. It's how we think of ourselves. People will stop sometimes and take pictures of Clawed. Our friends get a kick out of it when they come over and we've never had a complaint about him."

Grinstead said he plans to remove the statue this week despite his objections.

"I'll take my beating and go ahead and do it," he said.