diff --git a/core/state/statedb.go b/core/state/statedb.go
index f41c0cc717..56708d85a3 100644
--- a/core/state/statedb.go
+++ b/core/state/statedb.go
@@ -450,13 +450,23 @@ func (s *StateDB) deleteStateObject(obj *stateObject) {
 	s.setError(s.trie.TryDelete(addr[:]))
 }
 
-// Retrieve a state object given by the address. Returns nil if not found.
-func (s *StateDB) getStateObject(addr common.Address) (stateObject *stateObject) {
-	// Prefer live objects
+// getStateObject retrieves a state object given by the address, returning nil if
+// the object is not found or was deleted in this execution context. If you need
+// to differentiate between non-existent/just-deleted, use getDeletedStateObject.
+func (s *StateDB) getStateObject(addr common.Address) *stateObject {
+	if obj := s.getDeletedStateObject(addr); obj != nil && !obj.deleted {
+		return obj
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// getDeletedStateObject is similar to getStateObject, but instead of returning
+// nil for a deleted state object, it returns the actual object with the deleted
+// flag set. This is needed by the state journal to revert to the correct self-
+// destructed object instead of wiping all knowledge about the state object.
+func (s *StateDB) getDeletedStateObject(addr common.Address) *stateObject {
+	// Prefer live objects if any is available
 	if obj := s.stateObjects[addr]; obj != nil {
-		if obj.deleted {
-			return nil
-		}
 		return obj
 	}
 	// Track the amount of time wasted on loading the object from the database
@@ -487,7 +497,7 @@ func (self *StateDB) setStateObject(object *stateObject) {
 // Retrieve a state object or create a new state object if nil.
 func (self *StateDB) GetOrNewStateObject(addr common.Address) *stateObject {
 	stateObject := self.getStateObject(addr)
-	if stateObject == nil || stateObject.deleted {
+	if stateObject == nil {
 		stateObject, _ = self.createObject(addr)
 	}
 	return stateObject
@@ -496,7 +506,8 @@ func (self *StateDB) GetOrNewStateObject(addr common.Address) *stateObject {
 // createObject creates a new state object. If there is an existing account with
 // the given address, it is overwritten and returned as the second return value.
 func (self *StateDB) createObject(addr common.Address) (newobj, prev *stateObject) {
-	prev = self.getStateObject(addr)
+	prev = self.getDeletedStateObject(addr) // Note, prev might have been deleted, we need that!
+
 	newobj = newObject(self, addr, Account{})
 	newobj.setNonce(0) // sets the object to dirty
 	if prev == nil {
@@ -587,14 +598,14 @@ func (self *StateDB) Copy() *StateDB {
 	for addr := range self.stateObjectsPending {
 		if _, exist := state.stateObjects[addr]; !exist {
 			state.stateObjects[addr] = self.stateObjects[addr].deepCopy(state)
-			state.stateObjectsPending[addr] = struct{}{}
 		}
+		state.stateObjectsPending[addr] = struct{}{}
 	}
 	for addr := range self.stateObjectsDirty {
 		if _, exist := state.stateObjects[addr]; !exist {
 			state.stateObjects[addr] = self.stateObjects[addr].deepCopy(state)
-			state.stateObjectsDirty[addr] = struct{}{}
 		}
+		state.stateObjectsDirty[addr] = struct{}{}
 	}
 	for hash, logs := range self.logs {
 		cpy := make([]*types.Log, len(logs))
diff --git a/core/state/statedb_test.go b/core/state/statedb_test.go
index bf073bc948..bb3b87ead2 100644
--- a/core/state/statedb_test.go
+++ b/core/state/statedb_test.go
@@ -449,3 +449,38 @@ func TestCopyOfCopy(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("2nd copy fail, expected 42, got %v", got)
 	}
 }
+
+// TestDeleteCreateRevert tests a weird state transition corner case that we hit
+// while changing the internals of statedb. The workflow is that a contract is
+// self destructed, then in a followup transaction (but same block) it's created
+// again and the transaction reverted.
+//
+// The original statedb implementation flushed dirty objects to the tries after
+// each transaction, so this works ok. The rework accumulated writes in memory
+// first, but the journal wiped the entire state object on create-revert.
+func TestDeleteCreateRevert(t *testing.T) {
+	// Create an initial state with a single contract
+	state, _ := New(common.Hash{}, NewDatabase(rawdb.NewMemoryDatabase()))
+
+	addr := toAddr([]byte("so"))
+	state.SetBalance(addr, big.NewInt(1))
+
+	root, _ := state.Commit(false)
+	state.Reset(root)
+
+	// Simulate self-destructing in one transaction, then create-reverting in another
+	state.Suicide(addr)
+	state.Finalise(true)
+
+	id := state.Snapshot()
+	state.SetBalance(addr, big.NewInt(2))
+	state.RevertToSnapshot(id)
+
+	// Commit the entire state and make sure we don't crash and have the correct state
+	root, _ = state.Commit(true)
+	state.Reset(root)
+
+	if state.getStateObject(addr) != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("self-destructed contract came alive")
+	}
+}