diff --git a/builtin-blame.c b/builtin-blame.c
index cf74a92614..0afdb16cb0 100644
--- a/builtin-blame.c
+++ b/builtin-blame.c
@@ -362,18 +362,28 @@ static struct origin *find_origin(struct scoreboard *sb,
 			       "", &diff_opts);
 	diffcore_std(&diff_opts);
 
-	/* It is either one entry that says "modified", or "created",
-	 * or nothing.
-	 */
 	if (!diff_queued_diff.nr) {
 		/* The path is the same as parent */
 		porigin = get_origin(sb, parent, origin->path);
 		hashcpy(porigin->blob_sha1, origin->blob_sha1);
-	}
-	else if (diff_queued_diff.nr != 1)
-		die("internal error in blame::find_origin");
-	else {
-		struct diff_filepair *p = diff_queued_diff.queue[0];
+	} else {
+		/*
+		 * Since origin->path is a pathspec, if the parent
+		 * commit had it as a directory, we will see a whole
+		 * bunch of deletion of files in the directory that we
+		 * do not care about.
+		 */
+		int i;
+		struct diff_filepair *p = NULL;
+		for (i = 0; i < diff_queued_diff.nr; i++) {
+			const char *name;
+			p = diff_queued_diff.queue[i];
+			name = p->one->path ? p->one->path : p->two->path;
+			if (!strcmp(name, origin->path))
+				break;
+		}
+		if (!p)
+			die("internal error in blame::find_origin");
 		switch (p->status) {
 		default:
 			die("internal error in blame::find_origin (%c)",
diff --git a/t/t8003-blame.sh b/t/t8003-blame.sh
index 966bb0a61a..13c25f1d52 100755
--- a/t/t8003-blame.sh
+++ b/t/t8003-blame.sh
@@ -129,4 +129,19 @@ test_expect_success 'blame wholesale copy and more' '
 
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'blame path that used to be a directory' '
+	mkdir path &&
+	echo A A A A A >path/file &&
+	echo B B B B B >path/elif &&
+	git add path &&
+	test_tick &&
+	git commit -m "path was a directory" &&
+	rm -fr path &&
+	echo A A A A A >path &&
+	git add path &&
+	test_tick &&
+	git commit -m "path is a regular file" &&
+	git blame HEAD^.. -- path
+'
+
 test_done