The Waodani were the most violent society ever documented. Six of every 10 deaths of Waodani adults were homicides. 

In late 1955, five young American missionaries attempted to make peaceful contact with the notorious tribe. Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, Peter Fleming, Ed McCully, and Roger Youderian lowered buckets carrying gifts from their small airplane to curious tribe members on the ground below. Eventually the Waodani even returned the gesture by placing their own gifts into the bucket.

The young missionaries took this exchange as a positive sign and decided to go further– they wanted to meet the Waodani face-to-face. So the five men made camp on a small riverside sandbar they called “Palm Beach.” 

On January 7th, 1956, three members of the tribe ventured out to meet the missionaries. They seemed friendly, and the men eagerly anticipated a friendly exchange with more Waodani on the following day. But it was not to be. The Waodani returned to Palm Beach on January 8th and speared all five missionaries to death. 

The news of the brutal murders made headlines around the world. But the violent end of the missionaries’ lives was only the beginning of the Waodani story. 

Shortly after the killings, the wife of one of the fallen men and the sister of another went into the jungle to live with the Waodani. Two years later, their message of peace and forgiveness had transformed the tribe – the homicide rate fell by 90%.