diff --git a/lib/saxes.js b/lib/saxes.js
index 0a8ea1a5..ba1e67ec 100644
--- a/lib/saxes.js
+++ b/lib/saxes.js
@@ -138,6 +138,8 @@ class SAXParser {
     this.state = S_BEGIN;
     this.ENTITIES = Object.create(XML_ENTITIES);
     this.attribList = [];
+    this.reportedTextBeforeRoot = false;
+    this.reportedTextAfterRoot = false;
 
     // namespaces form a prototype chain.
     // it always points at the current tag,
@@ -258,7 +260,10 @@ class SAXParser {
         else if (!isWhitespace(c)) {
           // have to process this as a text node.
           // weird, but happens.
-          this.fail("Non-whitespace before first tag.");
+          if (!this.reportedTextBeforeRoot) {
+            this.fail("Text data outside of root node.");
+            this.reportedTextBeforeRoot = true;
+          }
           this.textNode = c;
           this.state = S_TEXT;
         }
diff --git a/test/bom.js b/test/bom.js
index e238f948..82147eaa 100644
--- a/test/bom.js
+++ b/test/bom.js
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ require(".").test({
   name: "BOM outside of root, but not initial",
   xml: " \uFEFF<P></P>",
   expect: [
-    ["error", "Non-whitespace before first tag.\nLine: 0\nColumn: 2\nChar: \uFEFF"],
+    ["error", "Text data outside of root node.\nLine: 0\nColumn: 2\nChar: \uFEFF"],
     ["text", "\uFEFF"],
     ["opentagstart", { name: "P", attributes: {} }],
     ["opentag", { name: "P", attributes: {}, isSelfClosing: false }],
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ require(".").test({
   name: "multiple BOMs",
   xml: "\uFEFF\uFEFF<P></P>",
   expect: [
-    ["error", "Non-whitespace before first tag.\nLine: 0\nColumn: 2\nChar: \uFEFF"],
+    ["error", "Text data outside of root node.\nLine: 0\nColumn: 2\nChar: \uFEFF"],
     ["text", "\uFEFF"],
     ["opentagstart", { name: "P", attributes: {} }],
     ["opentag", { name: "P", attributes: {}, isSelfClosing: false }],