 Dead Head Fred takes place in Hope Falls , New Jersey , a once @-@ prosperous area based on American cities in the 1940s . The city has steadily fallen from grace since a business mogul named Ulysses Pitt began accumulating power . Pitt has a background of petty crime , and there are allegations that he was somehow responsible for the disappearance of Vinni Rossini , an influential Hope Falls businessman . Pitt 's new " Nukular Plant " has recently finished construction and has caused a high level of radiation in the city , leading to strange phenomena like mutated wildlife and undead monsters . 
