diff --git a/lib/jekyll/utils.rb b/lib/jekyll/utils.rb
index 6b6e8f1c..b878d4d6 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/utils.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/utils.rb
@@ -120,7 +120,9 @@ module Jekyll
     #
     # Returns true if the YAML front matter is present.
     def has_yaml_header?(file)
-      !!(File.open(file, 'rb') { |f| f.read(5) } =~ /\A---\r?\n/)
+      !!(File.open(file, 'rb') { |f| f.readline } =~ /\A---\s*\r?\n/)
+    rescue EOFError
+      false
     end
 
     # Slugify a filename or title.
diff --git a/test/source/_posts/2015-12-27-extra-spaces.markdown b/test/source/_posts/2015-12-27-extra-spaces.markdown
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..595a9cd9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/source/_posts/2015-12-27-extra-spaces.markdown
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+---  
+extra: spaces
+---
diff --git a/test/test_generated_site.rb b/test/test_generated_site.rb
index 32999aba..9a289dd3 100644
--- a/test/test_generated_site.rb
+++ b/test/test_generated_site.rb
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ class TestGeneratedSite < JekyllUnitTest
     end
 
     should "ensure post count is as expected" do
-      assert_equal 48, @site.posts.size
+      assert_equal 49, @site.posts.size
     end
 
     should "insert site.posts into the index" do
diff --git a/test/test_utils.rb b/test/test_utils.rb
index bf7e8957..7d499f9b 100644
--- a/test/test_utils.rb
+++ b/test/test_utils.rb
@@ -259,4 +259,22 @@ class TestUtils < JekyllUnitTest
     end
   end
 
+  context "The \`Utils.has_yaml_header?\` method" do
+    should "accept files with yaml front matter" do
+      file = source_dir("_posts", "2008-10-18-foo-bar.markdown")
+      assert_equal "---\n", File.open(file, 'rb') { |f| f.read(4) }
+      assert Utils.has_yaml_header?(file)
+    end
+    should "accept files with extraneous spaces after yaml front matter" do
+      file = source_dir("_posts", "2015-12-27-extra-spaces.markdown")
+      assert_equal "---  \n", File.open(file, 'rb') { |f| f.read(6) }
+      assert Utils.has_yaml_header?(file)
+    end
+    should "reject pgp files and the like which resemble front matter" do
+      file = source_dir("pgp.key")
+      assert_equal "-----B", File.open(file, 'rb') { |f| f.read(6) }
+      refute Utils.has_yaml_header?(file)
+    end
+  end
+
 end