diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 795fd3bb..5592feaa 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -331,7 +331,10 @@ value})``. Possible options are:
   * `normalize` (default: `false`): Trim whitespaces inside text nodes.
   * `explicitRoot` (default: `true`): Set this if you want to get the root
     node in the resulting object.
-  * `emptyTag` (default: `''`): what will the value of empty nodes be.
+  * `emptyTag` (default: `''`): what will the value of empty nodes be. In case
+  you want to use an empty object as a default value, it is better to provide a factory
+   function `() => ({})` instead. Without this function a plain object would
+  become a shared reference across all occurrences with unwanted behavior.
   * `explicitArray` (default: `true`): Always put child nodes in an array if
     true; otherwise an array is created only if there is more than one.
   * `ignoreAttrs` (default: `false`): Ignore all XML attributes and only create
diff --git a/lib/parser.js b/lib/parser.js
index 59f4d545..eda231cb 100644
--- a/lib/parser.js
+++ b/lib/parser.js
@@ -198,7 +198,11 @@
             }
           }
           if (isEmpty(obj)) {
-            obj = _this.options.emptyTag !== '' ? _this.options.emptyTag : emptyStr;
+            if (typeof _this.options.emptyTag === 'function') {
+              obj = _this.options.emptyTag();
+            } else {
+              obj = _this.options.emptyTag !== '' ? _this.options.emptyTag : emptyStr;
+            }
           }
           if (_this.options.validator != null) {
             xpath = "/" + ((function() {
diff --git a/src/parser.coffee b/src/parser.coffee
index 37967966..eb19c5b0 100644
--- a/src/parser.coffee
+++ b/src/parser.coffee
@@ -145,7 +145,10 @@ class exports.Parser extends events
           obj = obj[charkey]
 
       if (isEmpty obj)
-        obj = if @options.emptyTag != '' then @options.emptyTag else emptyStr
+        if typeof @options.emptyTag == 'function'
+          obj = @options.emptyTag()
+        else
+          obj = if @options.emptyTag != '' then @options.emptyTag else emptyStr
 
       if @options.validator?
         xpath = "/" + (node["#name"] for node in stack).concat(nodeName).join("/")
diff --git a/test/fixtures/sample.xml b/test/fixtures/sample.xml
index 0ffea408..e25a6feb 100644
--- a/test/fixtures/sample.xml
+++ b/test/fixtures/sample.xml
@@ -55,4 +55,7 @@
     <tagNameProcessTest/>
     <valueProcessTest>some value</valueProcessTest>
     <textordertest>this is text with <b>markup</b>   <em>like this</em> in the middle</textordertest>
+    <emptytestanother>
+
+    </emptytestanother>
 </sample>
diff --git a/test/parser.test.coffee b/test/parser.test.coffee
index 26982344..f2758759 100644
--- a/test/parser.test.coffee
+++ b/test/parser.test.coffee
@@ -83,6 +83,11 @@ module.exports =
     # determine number of items in object
     equ Object.keys(r.sample.tagcasetest[0]).length, 3)
 
+  'test parse with empty objects and functions': skeleton({emptyTag: ()=> ({})}, (r)->
+    console.log 'Result object: ' + util.inspect r, false, 10
+    bool = r.sample.emptytestanother[0] is r.sample.emptytest[0]
+    equ bool, false)
+
   'test parse with explicitCharkey': skeleton(explicitCharkey: true, (r) ->
     console.log 'Result object: ' + util.inspect r, false, 10
     equ r.sample.chartest[0].$.desc, 'Test for CHARs'