diff --git a/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_engine.hpp b/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_engine.hpp
index fff85873..889955c2 100644
--- a/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_engine.hpp
+++ b/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_engine.hpp
@@ -204,6 +204,27 @@ namespace chaiscript
       m_engine.add(fun([this](const std::string& t_namespace_name) { import(t_namespace_name); }), "import");
     }
 
+    /// Skip BOM at the beginning of file
+    static bool skip_bom(std::ifstream &infile) {
+        size_t bytes_needed = 3;
+        char buffer[3];
+
+        memset(buffer, '\0', bytes_needed);
+
+        infile.read(buffer, static_cast<std::streamsize>(bytes_needed));
+
+        if ((buffer[0] == '\xef')
+            && (buffer[1] == '\xbb')
+            && (buffer[2] == '\xbf')) {
+
+            infile.seekg(3);
+            return true;
+        }
+
+        infile.seekg(0);
+
+        return false;
+    }
 
     /// Helper function for loading a file
     static std::string load_file(const std::string &t_filename) {
@@ -213,11 +234,16 @@ namespace chaiscript
         throw chaiscript::exception::file_not_found_error(t_filename);
       }
 
-      const auto size = infile.tellg();
+      auto size = infile.tellg();
       infile.seekg(0, std::ios::beg);
 
       assert(size >= 0);
 
+      if (skip_bom(infile)) {
+          size-=3; // decrement the BOM size from file size, otherwise we'll get parsing errors
+          assert(size >=0 ); //and check if there's more text
+      }
+
       if (size == std::streampos(0))
       {
         return std::string();
diff --git a/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_parser.hpp b/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_parser.hpp
index 97f59098..919fea86 100644
--- a/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_parser.hpp
+++ b/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_parser.hpp
@@ -542,10 +542,14 @@ namespace chaiscript
 
       /// Skips ChaiScript whitespace, which means space and tab, but not cr/lf
       /// jespada: Modified SkipWS to skip optionally CR ('\n') and/or LF+CR ("\r\n")
+      /// AlekMosingiewicz: Added exception when illegal character detected
       bool SkipWS(bool skip_cr=false) {
         bool retval = false;
 
         while (m_position.has_more()) {
+          if(static_cast<unsigned char>(*m_position) > 0x7e) {
+            throw exception::eval_error("Illegal character", File_Position(m_position.line, m_position.col), *m_filename);
+          }
           auto end_line = (*m_position != 0) && ((*m_position == '\n') || (*m_position == '\r' && *(m_position+1) == '\n'));
 
           if ( char_in_alphabet(*m_position,detail::white_alphabet) || (skip_cr && end_line)) {
diff --git a/unittests/compiled_tests.cpp b/unittests/compiled_tests.cpp
index 3df1dbe2..8723d23d 100644
--- a/unittests/compiled_tests.cpp
+++ b/unittests/compiled_tests.cpp
@@ -352,7 +352,29 @@ TEST_CASE("Functor cast")
   CHECK(d == 3 * 6);
 }
 
+TEST_CASE("Non-ASCII characters in the middle of string")
+{
+  chaiscript::ChaiScript_Basic chai(create_chaiscript_stdlib(),create_chaiscript_parser());
+  CHECK_THROWS_AS(chai.eval<std::string>("prin\xeft \"Hello World\""), chaiscript::exception::eval_error);
+}
 
+TEST_CASE("Non-ASCII characters in the beginning of string")
+{
+    chaiscript::ChaiScript_Basic chai(create_chaiscript_stdlib(),create_chaiscript_parser());
+    CHECK_THROWS_AS(chai.eval<std::string>("\xefprint \"Hello World\""), chaiscript::exception::eval_error);
+}
+
+TEST_CASE("Non-ASCII characters in the end of string")
+{
+    chaiscript::ChaiScript_Basic chai(create_chaiscript_stdlib(),create_chaiscript_parser());
+    CHECK_THROWS_AS(chai.eval<std::string>("print \"Hello World\"\xef"), chaiscript::exception::eval_error);
+}
+
+TEST_CASE("BOM in string")
+{
+    chaiscript::ChaiScript_Basic chai(create_chaiscript_stdlib(),create_chaiscript_parser());
+    CHECK_THROWS_AS(chai.eval<std::string>("\xef\xbb\xbfprint \"Hello World\""), chaiscript::exception::eval_error);
+}
 
 int set_state_test_myfun()
 {
diff --git a/unittests/eval_file_with_bom.chai b/unittests/eval_file_with_bom.chai
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b17ddba9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/unittests/eval_file_with_bom.chai
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+eval_file("file_with_bom.inc")
+assert_true(alwaysTrue())
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/unittests/file_with_bom.inc b/unittests/file_with_bom.inc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e7ad9558
--- /dev/null
+++ b/unittests/file_with_bom.inc
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+def alwaysTrue() {
+   return true
+}
\ No newline at end of file