diff --git a/core/impl-base/src/main/java/org/jboss/arquillian/core/impl/ManagerImpl.java b/core/impl-base/src/main/java/org/jboss/arquillian/core/impl/ManagerImpl.java
index 19478b987..ac8890725 100644
--- a/core/impl-base/src/main/java/org/jboss/arquillian/core/impl/ManagerImpl.java
+++ b/core/impl-base/src/main/java/org/jboss/arquillian/core/impl/ManagerImpl.java
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
 import org.jboss.arquillian.core.spi.Manager;
 import org.jboss.arquillian.core.spi.NonManagedObserver;
 import org.jboss.arquillian.core.spi.ObserverMethod;
+import org.jboss.arquillian.core.spi.ThreadLocalUtil;
 import org.jboss.arquillian.core.spi.Validate;
 import org.jboss.arquillian.core.spi.context.ApplicationContext;
 import org.jboss.arquillian.core.spi.context.Context;
@@ -279,6 +280,9 @@ public void shutdown() {
             runtimeLogger.clear();
 
             handledThrowables.remove();
+
+            //Force cleanup ThreadLocal:
+            ThreadLocalUtil.forceCleanupThreadLocal(handledThrowables);
         }
         if (shutdownException != null) {
             UncheckedThrow.throwUnchecked(shutdownException);
diff --git a/core/spi/src/main/java/org/jboss/arquillian/core/spi/ThreadLocalUtil.java b/core/spi/src/main/java/org/jboss/arquillian/core/spi/ThreadLocalUtil.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..60e059f5f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/spi/src/main/java/org/jboss/arquillian/core/spi/ThreadLocalUtil.java
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+package org.jboss.arquillian.core.spi;
+
+import java.lang.reflect.Method;
+import java.util.logging.Level;
+import java.util.logging.Logger;
+
+public class ThreadLocalUtil {
+    private static Logger log = Logger.getLogger(ThreadLocalUtil.class.getName());
+
+    /**
+     * Force cleanup of a thread local variable: using reflection, all entries for the "ThreadLocalMap" are removed.
+     * The entries are searched for all active threads.
+     *
+     * @param threadLocal This is the threadlocal variable to be cleaned up.
+     */
+    public static void forceCleanupThreadLocal(ThreadLocal<?> threadLocal) {
+      //Get all threads:
+      ThreadGroup rootGroup = Thread.currentThread().getThreadGroup();
+      ThreadGroup parentGroup;
+      while ((parentGroup = rootGroup.getParent()) != null) {
+          rootGroup = parentGroup;
+      }
+      Thread[] threads = new Thread[rootGroup.activeCount()];
+      while (rootGroup.enumerate(threads, true ) == threads.length) {
+          threads = new Thread[threads.length * 2];
+      }
+      //Cleanup for each thread:
+      for (Thread thread : threads)
+      {
+          //The "threads" array has NULL entries...
+          if (thread != null)
+          {
+             cleanThreadLocals(thread, threadLocal);
+          }
+      }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Performs cleanup of the ThreadLocal entry for a specific thread.
+     *
+     * @param thread
+     * @param threadLocal
+     */
+    private static void cleanThreadLocals(Thread thread, ThreadLocal<?> threadLocal) {
+        try {
+            Class<?> threadLocalClass = Class.forName("java.lang.ThreadLocal");
+            Method getMapMethod = threadLocalClass.getDeclaredMethod("getMap", Thread.class);
+            getMapMethod.setAccessible(true);
+
+            Object threadLocalMap = getMapMethod.invoke(threadLocal, thread);
+
+            if (threadLocalMap != null)
+            {
+                Class<?> threadLocalMapClass = Class.forName("java.lang.ThreadLocal$ThreadLocalMap");
+                Method removeMethod = threadLocalMapClass.getDeclaredMethod("remove", ThreadLocal.class);
+                removeMethod.setAccessible(true);
+
+                removeMethod.invoke(threadLocalMap, threadLocal);
+            }
+        } catch(Exception e) {
+            // We will tolerate an exception here and just log it
+            log.log(Level.SEVERE, "Arquillian failed to cleanup threadlocals - did the Java API change?", e);
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/core/spi/src/main/java/org/jboss/arquillian/core/spi/context/AbstractContext.java b/core/spi/src/main/java/org/jboss/arquillian/core/spi/context/AbstractContext.java
index dbc566139..8cbdb7704 100644
--- a/core/spi/src/main/java/org/jboss/arquillian/core/spi/context/AbstractContext.java
+++ b/core/spi/src/main/java/org/jboss/arquillian/core/spi/context/AbstractContext.java
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@
 import java.util.Stack;
 import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap;
 import java.util.logging.Logger;
+
+import org.jboss.arquillian.core.spi.ThreadLocalUtil;
 import org.jboss.arquillian.core.spi.Validate;
 
 /**
@@ -105,10 +107,15 @@ public void clearAll() {
                 deactivateAll();
             }
             activeStore.remove();
+
+            //Force cleanup ThreadLocal:
+            ThreadLocalUtil.forceCleanupThreadLocal(activeStore);
+
             for (Map.Entry<T, ObjectStore> entry : stores.entrySet()) {
                 entry.getValue().clear();
             }
             stores.clear();
+
         }
     }