diff --git a/app/models/page.rb b/app/models/page.rb
index e1088fc..6257120 100644
--- a/app/models/page.rb
+++ b/app/models/page.rb
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ class Page < ActiveRecord::Base
   #
   def update_html
     # need to filter HTML first... remove <script> and chunks and the like...
-    res = RedCloth.new(self.redcloth.to_s, [ :no_span_caps ])
+    res = RedCloth.new(self.redcloth.to_s.strip_tags, [ :no_span_caps ])
     self.html = res.to_html(
       # no link references. messes up lines starting with [[WikiWord]]
       :block_textile_table, :block_textile_lists, :block_textile_prefix,
diff --git a/config/environment.rb b/config/environment.rb
index a15e944..d827c92 100644
--- a/config/environment.rb
+++ b/config/environment.rb
@@ -7,4 +7,5 @@ Rails::Initializer.run do |config|
   config.active_record.default_timezone = :utc
 end
 
-require 'redcloth'
\ No newline at end of file
+require 'redcloth'
+require 'actionview_text_helper'
diff --git a/lib/actionview_text_helper.rb b/lib/actionview_text_helper.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..673aa2d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/actionview_text_helper.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+# ActionView Text Helpers are great!
+# Let's extend the String class to allow us to call
+# some of these methods directly on a String.
+# Note: 
+#  - cycle-related methods are not included
+#  - concat is not included
+#  - pluralize is not included because it is in 
+#       ActiveSupport String extensions already
+#       (though they differ).
+#  - markdown requires BlueCloth
+#  - textilize methods require RedCloth
+# Example:
+# "<b>coolness</b>".strip_tags -> "coolness"
+require 'singleton'
+# Singleton to be called in wrapper module
+class TextHelperSingleton
+  include Singleton
+  include ActionView::Helpers::TextHelper
+  include ActionView::Helpers::TagHelper #tag_options needed by auto_link
+end
+# Wrapper module
+module MyExtensions #:nodoc:
+  module CoreExtensions #:nodoc:
+    module String #:nodoc:
+      module TextHelper
+        def auto_link(link = :all, href_options = {}, &block)
+          TextHelperSingleton.instance.auto_link(self, link, href_options, &block)
+        end
+        def excerpt(phrase, radius = 100, excerpt_string = "…")
+          TextHelperSingleton.instance.excerpt(self, phrase, radius, excerpt_string)
+        end
+        def highlight(phrase, highlighter = '<strong class="highlight">\1</strong>')
+          TextHelperSingleton.instance.highlight(self, phrase, highlighter)
+        end
+ 
+        begin
+          require_library_or_gem 'bluecloth'
+          def markdown
+            TextHelperSingleton.instance.markdown(self)
+          end
+        rescue LoadError
+          # do nothing.  method will be undefined
+        end
+        def sanitize
+          TextHelperSingleton.instance.sanitize(self)
+        end
+        def simple_format
+          TextHelperSingleton.instance.simple_format(self)
+        end
+        def strip_tags
+          TextHelperSingleton.instance.strip_tags(self)
+        end
+        begin
+          require_library_or_gem 'redcloth'
+          def textilize
+            TextHelperSingleton.instance.textilize(self)
+          end
+          def textilize_without_paragraph
+            TextHelperSingleton.instance.textilize_without_paragraph(self)
+          end
+        rescue LoadError
+          # do nothing.  methods will be undefined
+        end
+        def truncate(length = 30, truncate_string = "…")
+          TextHelperSingleton.instance.truncate(self, length, truncate_string)
+        end
+        def word_wrap(line_width = 80)
+          TextHelperSingleton.instance.word_wrap(self, line_width)
+        end
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
+# extend String with the TextHelper functions
+class String #:nodoc:
+  include MyExtensions::CoreExtensions::String::TextHelper
+end
diff --git a/test/unit/page_test.rb b/test/unit/page_test.rb
index a7ae83c..2aa389c 100644
--- a/test/unit/page_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/page_test.rb
@@ -10,4 +10,10 @@ class PageTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
   def test_destroy
     assert_destroy('Page')
   end
+
+  def test_no_html_in_tag
+    p = Page.new :title => 'test page', :redcloth => '<ul><li>list</li></ul>'
+    p.save
+    assert p.html !~ /ul/
+  end
 end