diff --git a/app/models/article_block.rb b/app/models/article_block.rb
index 135738d..1761af9 100644
--- a/app/models/article_block.rb
+++ b/app/models/article_block.rb
@@ -19,7 +19,14 @@ class ArticleBlock < Block
   def article(reload = false)
     @article = nil if reload
     if @article || article_id
-      @article = Article.find(article_id)
+      begin
+        @article = Article.find(article_id)
+      rescue ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound
+        # dangling reference, clear it
+        @article = nil
+        self.article_id = nil
+        self.save!
+      end
     end
     @article
   end
diff --git a/test/unit/article_block_test.rb b/test/unit/article_block_test.rb
index dd072cd..e494b1f 100644
--- a/test/unit/article_block_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/article_block_test.rb
@@ -30,4 +30,26 @@ class ArticleBlockTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
 
   end
 
+  should 'not crash when referenced article is removed' do
+    person = create_user('testuser').person
+    a = person.articles.create!(:name => 'test')
+    block = ArticleBlock.create(:article => a)
+    person.boxes.first.blocks << block
+    block.save!
+
+    a.destroy
+    block.reload
+    assert_nil block.article
+  end
+
+  should 'nullify reference to unexisting article' do
+    Article.delete_all
+
+    block = ArticleBlock.new
+    block.article_id = 999
+
+    block.article
+    assert_nil block.article_id
+  end
+
 end
--
libgit2 0.21.2