diff --git a/src/dehacked.c b/src/dehacked.c
index 963285cff..b439f43de 100644
--- a/src/dehacked.c
+++ b/src/dehacked.c
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ char *myfgets(char *buf, size_t bufsize, MYFILE *f)
 	return buf;
 }
 
-static char *myhashfgets(char *buf, size_t bufsize, MYFILE *f, boolean trim)
+static char *myhashfgets(char *buf, size_t bufsize, MYFILE *f)
 {
 	size_t i = 0;
 	if (myfeof(f))
@@ -166,33 +166,15 @@ static char *myhashfgets(char *buf, size_t bufsize, MYFILE *f, boolean trim)
 			dbg_line++;
 		if (c == '#')
 		{
-			if (i > 0)
-				i--; // don't include the hash in our string
+			if (i > 0) // don't let i wrap past 0
+				i--; // don't include hash char in string
 			break;
 		}
 	}
-
-	// HACK: BS code to make sure i doesn't wrap past 0
-	// and put the terminator char AFTER the first non-whitespace char
-	// OR at position 0 if the first char is whitespace OR a hash
-	if (trim) // trailing whitespace only
-	{
-		if (i > 0)
-			i--; // current char may be '#', so skip that
-		while (i < bufsize && i > 0 && !myfeof(f))
-		{
-			char c = buf[i];
-			if (i > 0)
-				i--;
-			if ((c != '\r' && c != '\n' && c != ' ') || i == 0)
-				break;
-		}
-		if (buf[i] != '\r' && buf[i] != '\n' && buf[i] != ' ' && buf[i] != '#')
-			i++; // put the null character after the first non-whitespace char
-	}
-
+	if (buf[i] != '#') // don't include hash char in string
+		i++;
 	buf[i] = '\0';
-	CONS_Printf("%s", buf);
+
 	return buf;
 }
 
@@ -375,7 +357,7 @@ static void readPlayer(MYFILE *f, INT32 num)
 				if (playertext)
 				{
 					strcpy(description[num].notes, playertext);
-					strcat(description[num].notes, myhashfgets(playertext, sizeof (description[num].notes), f, false));
+					strcat(description[num].notes, myhashfgets(playertext, sizeof (description[num].notes), f));
 				}
 				else
 					strcpy(description[num].notes, "");
@@ -1391,7 +1373,7 @@ static void readcutscenescene(MYFILE *f, INT32 num, INT32 scenenum)
 
 				strcat(buffer,
 					myhashfgets(scenetext, bufferlen
-					- strlen(buffer) - 1, f, false));
+					- strlen(buffer) - 1, f));
 
 				// A cutscene overwriting another one...
 				Z_Free(cutscenes[num]->scene[scenenum].text);
@@ -1624,9 +1606,12 @@ static void readtextpromptpage(MYFILE *f, INT32 num, INT32 pagenum)
 				buffer = Z_Malloc(4096, PU_STATIC, NULL);
 				strcpy(buffer, pagetext);
 
+				// \todo trim trailing whitespace before the #
+				// and also support # at the end of a PAGETEXT with no line break
+
 				strcat(buffer,
 					myhashfgets(pagetext, bufferlen
-					- strlen(buffer) - 1, f, true));
+					- strlen(buffer) - 1, f));
 
 				// A text prompt overwriting another one...
 				Z_Free(textprompts[num]->page[pagenum].text);