diff --git a/lib/sweet_xml.ex b/lib/sweet_xml.ex
index 8d3646e..f0e2fe1 100644
--- a/lib/sweet_xml.ex
+++ b/lib/sweet_xml.ex
@@ -490,7 +490,7 @@ defmodule SweetXml do
       {ref, pid, monref, do_after} ->
         _ = Process.demonitor(monref)
         _ = SweetXml.Options.clean_up(do_after)
-        flush_halt(pid, ref)
+        flush_halt(pid, ref, monref)
     end
   end
 
@@ -545,7 +545,7 @@ defmodule SweetXml do
       {ref, pid, monref, do_after} ->
         _ = Process.demonitor(monref)
         _ = SweetXml.Options.clean_up(do_after)
-        flush_halt(pid, ref)
+        flush_halt(pid, ref, monref)
     end
   end
 
@@ -843,12 +843,20 @@ defmodule SweetXml do
     end
   end
 
-  defp flush_halt(pid, ref) do
+  defp flush_halt(pid, ref, monref) do
     receive do
       {:event, ^ref, _} ->
-        flush_halt(pid, ref) # flush all emitted elems after :halt
+        # flush all emitted elems after :halt
+        flush_halt(pid, ref, monref)
+
       {:wait, ^ref} ->
-        send(pid, {:halt, ref}) # tell the continuation function to halt the underlying stream
+        # tell the continuation function to halt the underlying stream
+        send(pid, {:halt, ref})
+        :done
+
+      {:DOWN, ^monref, :process, ^pid, :normal} ->
+        # flush down message from possibly dead process before demonitoring
+        :done
     end
   end
 
diff --git a/test/issue_97_test.exs b/test/issue_97_test.exs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..10ee9c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/issue_97_test.exs
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+defmodule Issue97Test do
+  use ExUnit.Case
+
+  test "stream_tags doesn't hang when used with stream take on empty xml" do
+    parent = self()
+    ref = make_ref()
+    spawn_link fn ->
+      "<feed></feed>"
+      |> SweetXml.stream_tags(:feed)
+      |> Stream.take(1)
+      |> Enum.to_list()
+      send(parent, {ref, :ok})
+    end
+    assert_receive {^ref, :ok}, :timer.seconds(1)
+  end
+
+  test "stream_tags! doesn't hang when used with stream take on empty xml" do
+    parent = self()
+    ref = make_ref()
+    spawn_link fn ->
+      "<feed></feed>"
+      |> SweetXml.stream_tags!(:feed)
+      |> Stream.take(1)
+      |> Enum.to_list()
+      send(parent, {ref, :ok})
+    end
+    assert_receive {^ref, :ok}, :timer.seconds(1)
+  end
+end