diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 66de090b..68bbac59 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-test/dest/
+test/dest
 *.gem
 pkg/
 *.swp
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/site.rb b/lib/jekyll/site.rb
index a578dd1f..e74fd333 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/site.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/site.rb
@@ -77,6 +77,8 @@ module Jekyll
           rescue LoadError
             puts "The maruku gem is required for markdown support!"
           end
+        else
+          raise "Invalid Markdown processor: '#{self.config['markdown']}' -- did you mean 'maruku' or 'rdiscount'?"
       end
     end
 
diff --git a/test/test_site.rb b/test/test_site.rb
index 80bf0468..469c2a8b 100644
--- a/test/test_site.rb
+++ b/test/test_site.rb
@@ -65,5 +65,21 @@ class TestSite < Test::Unit::TestCase
       @site.exclude = excludes
       assert_equal includes, @site.filter_entries(excludes + includes)
     end
+    
+    context 'with an invalid markdown processor in the configuration' do
+      
+      should 'give a meaningful error message' do
+        bad_processor = 'not a processor name'
+        begin
+          Site.new(Jekyll.configuration.merge({ 'markdown' => bad_processor }))
+          flunk 'Invalid markdown processors should cause a failure on site creation'
+        rescue RuntimeError => e
+          assert e.to_s =~ /invalid|bad/i
+          assert e.to_s =~ %r{#{bad_processor}}
+        end
+      end
+      
+    end
+    
   end
 end