diff --git a/src/history/file.rs b/src/history/file.rs
index 40f326080..3240dd3c5 100644
--- a/src/history/file.rs
+++ b/src/history/file.rs
@@ -358,9 +358,7 @@ fn decode_item_fish_2_0(mut data: &[u8]) -> Option<HistoryItem> {
     let (advance, line) = read_line(data);
     let line = trim_start(line);
     // Check this early *before* anything else.
-    if !line.starts_with(b"- cmd") {
-        return None;
-    }
+    assert!(line.starts_with(b"- cmd"));
 
     let (_key, value) = extract_prefix_and_unescape_yaml(line)?;
 
@@ -496,6 +494,15 @@ fn offset_of_next_item_fish_2_0(
             continue;
         }
 
+        if !line.starts_with(b"- cmd") {
+            FLOG!(
+                history,
+                "ignoring corrupted history entry around offset",
+                *cursor
+            );
+            continue;
+        }
+
         // At this point, we know `line` is at the beginning of an item. But maybe we want to
         // skip this item because of timestamps. A `None` cutoff means we don't care; if we do care,
         // then try parsing out a timestamp.