diff --git a/graphwalker-core/pom.xml b/graphwalker-core/pom.xml
index 7d4fe7808..d4410fdae 100644
--- a/graphwalker-core/pom.xml
+++ b/graphwalker-core/pom.xml
@@ -37,6 +37,10 @@
       <groupId>org.graalvm.truffle</groupId>
       <artifactId>truffle-api</artifactId>
     </dependency>
-    </dependencies>
+      <dependency>
+          <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
+          <artifactId>commons-lang3</artifactId>
+      </dependency>
+  </dependencies>
 
 </project>
diff --git a/graphwalker-core/src/main/java/org/graphwalker/core/machine/ExecutionContext.java b/graphwalker-core/src/main/java/org/graphwalker/core/machine/ExecutionContext.java
index ec0a685d5..01d2f7298 100644
--- a/graphwalker-core/src/main/java/org/graphwalker/core/machine/ExecutionContext.java
+++ b/graphwalker-core/src/main/java/org/graphwalker/core/machine/ExecutionContext.java
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
  * #L%
  */
 
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.exception.ExceptionUtils;
 import org.graalvm.polyglot.Value;
 import org.graphwalker.core.algorithm.Algorithm;
 import org.graphwalker.core.generator.PathGenerator;
@@ -278,8 +279,10 @@ public void execute(Element element) {
       // ignore, method is not defined in the execution context
     } catch (Throwable t) {
       executionStatus = ExecutionStatus.FAILED;
-      LOG.error(t.getMessage());
-      throw new MachineException(this, t);
+      LOG.error(ExceptionUtils.getRootCauseMessage(t));
+      // Do not obscure the root cause as it's not useful for the end user
+      // i.e: always showing java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException no matter what.
+      throw new MachineException(this, ExceptionUtils.getRootCause(t));
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/graphwalker-java/src/main/java/org/graphwalker/java/test/TestExecutionException.java b/graphwalker-java/src/main/java/org/graphwalker/java/test/TestExecutionException.java
index 21ab6963d..65077702f 100644
--- a/graphwalker-java/src/main/java/org/graphwalker/java/test/TestExecutionException.java
+++ b/graphwalker-java/src/main/java/org/graphwalker/java/test/TestExecutionException.java
@@ -41,6 +41,11 @@ public TestExecutionException(Result result) {
     this.result = result;
   }
 
+  public TestExecutionException(Result result, Throwable t) {
+    super(t);
+    this.result = result;
+  }
+
   public TestExecutionException(String message) {
     super(message);
   }
diff --git a/graphwalker-java/src/main/java/org/graphwalker/java/test/TestExecutor.java b/graphwalker-java/src/main/java/org/graphwalker/java/test/TestExecutor.java
index 53a950d64..571c8d453 100644
--- a/graphwalker-java/src/main/java/org/graphwalker/java/test/TestExecutor.java
+++ b/graphwalker-java/src/main/java/org/graphwalker/java/test/TestExecutor.java
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
  * #L%
  */
 
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.exception.ExceptionUtils;
 import org.graphwalker.core.event.EventType;
 import org.graphwalker.core.event.Observer;
 import org.graphwalker.core.machine.Context;
@@ -242,6 +243,7 @@ public Result execute() {
   public Result execute(boolean ignoreErrors) {
     result = new Result();
     executeAnnotation(BeforeExecution.class, machine);
+    Throwable executionException = null;
     try {
       while (machine.hasNextStep()) {
         machine.getNextStep();
@@ -249,11 +251,12 @@ public Result execute(boolean ignoreErrors) {
     } catch (MachineException e) {
       logger.error(e.getMessage());
       failures.put(e.getContext(), e);
+      executionException = e;
     }
     executeAnnotation(AfterExecution.class, machine);
     result.updateResults(machine, failures);
     if (!ignoreErrors && !failures.isEmpty()) {
-      throw new TestExecutionException(result);
+      throw new TestExecutionException(result, ExceptionUtils.getRootCause(executionException));
     }
     return result;
   }
diff --git a/graphwalker-java/src/test/java/org/graphwalker/java/test/TestExecutorTest.java b/graphwalker-java/src/test/java/org/graphwalker/java/test/TestExecutorTest.java
index a5edccfcd..7b04c9e83 100644
--- a/graphwalker-java/src/test/java/org/graphwalker/java/test/TestExecutorTest.java
+++ b/graphwalker-java/src/test/java/org/graphwalker/java/test/TestExecutorTest.java
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
 import org.graphwalker.core.statistics.Execution;
 import org.graphwalker.io.factory.json.JsonContextFactory;
 import org.graphwalker.java.annotation.GraphWalker;
+import org.json.JSONArray;
 import org.json.JSONObject;
 import org.junit.Assert;
 import org.junit.Test;
@@ -184,6 +185,12 @@ public ThrowExceptionTest() {
     }
 
     public void throwException() {
+      PossiblyAnActualRealWorldScenario.problematicMethod();
+    }
+  }
+
+  public static class PossiblyAnActualRealWorldScenario {
+    public static void problematicMethod() {
       throw new RuntimeException();
     }
   }
@@ -194,6 +201,45 @@ public void throwExceptionExecutor() throws IOException {
     executor.execute();
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Do not obscure the root cause failure
+   * @throws IOException
+   */
+  @Test
+  public void doNotObscureRootCauseFailureResult() throws IOException {
+    Executor executor = new TestExecutor(ThrowExceptionTest.class);
+
+    Result result = executor.execute(true);
+    Assert.assertTrue(result.hasErrors());
+    JSONArray failures = (JSONArray) result.getResults().get("failures");
+    ArrayList<String> failureList = new ArrayList<>();
+    failures.forEach( failure -> {
+      boolean hasFailureItem = ((JSONObject) failure).has("failure");
+      if (hasFailureItem) {
+        failureList.add(((JSONObject) failure).getString("failure"));
+      }
+    } );
+
+    Assert.assertTrue(failureList.get(0).startsWith("java.lang.RuntimeException"));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void doNotObscureRootCauseStack() throws IOException {
+    Executor executor = new TestExecutor(ThrowExceptionTest.class);
+    Throwable t = null;
+    try {
+      executor.execute();
+    } catch (Throwable thrown) {
+      t = thrown;
+    }
+
+    Assert.assertNotNull(t);
+    Assert.assertTrue(Arrays.stream(t.getCause().getStackTrace()).anyMatch( stackTraceElement -> {
+      System.out.println(stackTraceElement.getMethodName());
+      return stackTraceElement.getMethodName() == "problematicMethod";
+    }));
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void multilpeContexts() throws IOException {
     List<Context> contexts = new JsonContextFactory().create(Paths.get("org/graphwalker/java/test/PetClinic.json"));