diff --git a/watchman/Logging.h b/watchman/Logging.h
index 6585b5cbc811..c159728f671b 100644
--- a/watchman/Logging.h
+++ b/watchman/Logging.h
@@ -129,6 +129,14 @@ void logf(LogLevel level, fmt::string_view format_str, Args&&... args) {
   getLog().logf(level, format_str, std::forward<Args>(args)...);
 }
 
+// Log only to stderr. This bypasses Logging / folly::Synchronized which
+// might deadlock during exit.
+template <typename... Args>
+void logf_stderr(fmt::string_view format_str, Args&&... args) {
+  auto msg = fmt::format(fmt::runtime(format_str), std::forward<Args>(args)...);
+  ignore_result(write(STDERR_FILENO, msg.data(), msg.size()));
+}
+
 #ifdef _WIN32
 LONG WINAPI exception_filter(LPEXCEPTION_POINTERS excep);
 #endif
diff --git a/watchman/SignalHandler.cpp b/watchman/SignalHandler.cpp
index 8c88ec7513c7..d264af722d18 100644
--- a/watchman/SignalHandler.cpp
+++ b/watchman/SignalHandler.cpp
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ static void crash_handler(int signo, siginfo_t* si, void*) {
   }
 
   if (si) {
-    auto msg = fmt::format(
+    logf_stderr(
         "Terminating due to signal {} {} generated by pid={} uid={} {} ({})\n",
         signo,
         w_strsignal(signo),
@@ -112,14 +112,12 @@ static void crash_handler(int signo, siginfo_t* si, void*) {
         si->si_uid,
         reason,
         uintptr_t(si->si_value.sival_ptr));
-    ignore_result(write(STDERR_FILENO, msg.data(), msg.size()));
   } else {
-    auto msg = fmt::format(
+    logf_stderr(
         "Terminating due to signal {} {} {}\n",
         signo,
         w_strsignal(signo),
         reason);
-    ignore_result(write(STDERR_FILENO, msg.data(), msg.size()));
   }
 
 #if defined(HAVE_BACKTRACE) && defined(HAVE_BACKTRACE_SYMBOLS_FD)
@@ -141,20 +139,21 @@ static void crash_handler(int signo, siginfo_t* si, void*) {
 #endif
 
 namespace {
-void terminationHandler() {
+[[noreturn]] void terminationHandler() {
   auto eptr = std::current_exception();
   if (eptr) {
     try {
       std::rethrow_exception(eptr);
     } catch (const std::exception& exc) {
-      log(ABORT, "std::terminate was called. Exception: ", exc.what(), ".\n");
+      logf_stderr("std::terminate was called. Exception: {}\n", exc.what());
     } catch (...) {
-      log(ABORT,
+      logf_stderr(
           "std::terminate was called. Exception is not a std::exception.\n");
     }
   } else {
-    log(ABORT, "std::terminate was called. There is no current exception.\n");
+    logf_stderr("std::terminate was called. There is no current exception.\n");
   }
+  std::abort();
 }
 } // namespace
 
diff --git a/watchman/main.cpp b/watchman/main.cpp
index 9cdde7a29114..cba82b0abb86 100644
--- a/watchman/main.cpp
+++ b/watchman/main.cpp
@@ -1106,13 +1106,11 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
   try {
     return inner_main(argc, argv);
   } catch (const std::exception& e) {
-    log(ERR,
-        "Uncaught C++ exception: ",
-        folly::exceptionStr(e).toStdString(),
-        "\n");
+    logf_stderr(
+        "Uncaught C++ exception: {}\n", folly::exceptionStr(e).toStdString());
     return 1;
   } catch (...) {
-    log(ERR, "Uncaught C++ exception: ...\n");
+    logf_stderr("Uncaught C++ exception: ...\n");
     return 1;
   }
 }