By the late 1970s, “the golden age of serial murderers,” as a crime historian will call it, is well underway.[29] In earlier decades, these perpetrators could be measured in the double digits, but the numbers climb sharply after World War II, along with the lead in gas tanks and bloodstreams. There are 55 serial killers in 1940, 72 in 1950, 217 in 1960. By 1970 there are 605. By 1980, 768.[30] Body counts of individual killers are rising.
