diff --git a/config/config.go b/config/config.go
index 5fb31204a..1a820c422 100644
--- a/config/config.go
+++ b/config/config.go
@@ -24,7 +24,12 @@ func Load(filename string) ([]Config, error) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 	defer file.Close()
-	p := newParser(file)
+
+	p, err := newParser(file)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
 	return p.parse()
 }
 
diff --git a/config/directives.go b/config/directives.go
index 16d0e897f..85a677f4a 100644
--- a/config/directives.go
+++ b/config/directives.go
@@ -28,12 +28,16 @@ func init() {
 				return p.argErr()
 			}
 
-			file, err := os.Open(p.tkn())
+			filename := p.tkn()
+			file, err := os.Open(filename)
 			if err != nil {
 				return p.err("Parse", err.Error())
 			}
 			defer file.Close()
-			p2 := newParser(file)
+			p2, err := newParser(file)
+			if err != nil {
+				return p.err("Parse", "Could not import "+filename+"; "+err.Error())
+			}
 
 			p2.cfg = p.cfg
 			err = p2.directives()
diff --git a/config/parser.go b/config/parser.go
index 484fa9d3e..42855ed85 100644
--- a/config/parser.go
+++ b/config/parser.go
@@ -20,10 +20,16 @@ type parser struct {
 
 // newParser makes a new parser and prepares it for parsing, given
 // the input to parse.
-func newParser(file *os.File) *parser {
-	p := &parser{filename: file.Name()}
+func newParser(file *os.File) (*parser, error) {
+	stat, err := file.Stat()
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	p := &parser{filename: stat.Name()}
 	p.lexer.load(file)
-	return p
+
+	return p, nil
 }
 
 // Parse parses the configuration file. It produces a slice of Config
diff --git a/config/parsing.go b/config/parsing.go
index 9c12d9bc7..4d7289fb6 100644
--- a/config/parsing.go
+++ b/config/parsing.go
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ func (p *parser) addressBlock() error {
 	err := p.openCurlyBrace()
 	if err != nil {
 		// meh, single-server configs don't need curly braces
+		p.unused = true // we read the token but aren't consuming it
 		return p.directives()
 	}