The Last Lynching in Northern Virginia

This true crime history reveals the harrowing story of a black man brutally murdered by a lynch mob in 1932 Virginia.

In 1932, a black man was found hanging on Rattlesnake Mountain in Fauquier County, Virginia. Though a mob set fire to his body, officials were able to identify him as Shedrick Thompson, who had been wanted for the abduction and rape of a local white woman. Some claimed Thompson killed himself, framing his gruesome death as the final act of a desperate fugitive. But residents knew better. Thompson had been the victim of a lynching—the last one known in Virginia.

In The Last Lynching in Northern Virginia, author Jim Hall pieces together Thompson’s life, the weeks-long manhunt to find him, and his final hours. He also details the lawless practice of lynching in Fauquier County. This true crime chronicle takes an in-depth look at Thompson’s case to expose a complex and disturbing chapter in Virginia history.