diff --git a/src/p_mobj.cpp b/src/p_mobj.cpp
index 76afec801..e3317e1a2 100644
--- a/src/p_mobj.cpp
+++ b/src/p_mobj.cpp
@@ -4617,7 +4617,7 @@ AActor *P_SpawnMapThing (FMapThing *mthing, int position)
 	}
 
 	// copy args to mapthing so that we have them in one place for the rest of this function	
-	if (mentry->Special >= 0)
+	if (mentry->Type != NULL && mentry->Special >= 0)
 	{
 		mthing->special = mentry->Special;
 		memcpy(mthing->args, mentry->Args, sizeof(mthing->args));