In 1983, a 10-year-old boy hunting with his father made a horrifying discovery beneath what locals called the hanging tree.

A Black man’s body, brutalized—stabbed in an X pattern that echoed the Confederate flag. A hate crime meant to send a message. A murder meant to stay buried.

For 34 years, silence and fear kept the truth hidden. But when the past finally caught up to the present, a town was forced to reckon with its darkest secrets.

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