diff --git a/RELEASE-NOTES.md b/RELEASE-NOTES.md
index e99e89c57..2607be0ba 100644
--- a/RELEASE-NOTES.md
+++ b/RELEASE-NOTES.md
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@
 - **Menu** - `tiered menu` has been removed
 - **Menu** - Increased contrast on `inverted` menu selection for legibility
 - **Message** - Slightly increases `box-shadow`
+- **Popup** - Popup no longer produces an error when a position cannot be found on the page.
 - **Segment** - **Clearfix** has been removed from `ui segment`
 - **Search** - Slightly adjusted search result theme for clarity
 - **Site** - Increase contrast on default hovered/down colors for colored variations
@@ -117,6 +118,7 @@
 - **Modal** - `scrollable modal` now correctly adds padding below modal
 - **Modal** - Modal with `detachable: false` inside `ui sidebar`  `pusher` element will now show correctly
 - **Popup** - Fixes issue with `min-width` in firefox exceeding `max-width` causing element to not wrap correctly
+- **Popup** - Popup will now produce an error message and not mistakenly appear in the top left corner of page, if called with a `popup` or `target` that does not exist.
 - **Popup** - Fixed bug which could cause pre-existing inline popup to be removed from DOM after hiding
 - **Reveal** - Removed `masked` reveal, all reveals are masked by default
 - **Search** - Search will no longer incorrectly produce an error when API settings are passed through metadata
diff --git a/src/definitions/modules/popup.js b/src/definitions/modules/popup.js
index 42c50ffe9..36609665a 100644
--- a/src/definitions/modules/popup.js
+++ b/src/definitions/modules/popup.js
@@ -598,6 +598,10 @@ $.fn.popup = function(parameters) {
 
         set: {
           position: function(position, arrowOffset) {
+            if($target.length == 0 || $popup.length == 0) {
+              module.error(error.notFound);
+              return;
+            }
             var
               windowWidth   = $(window).width(),
               windowHeight  = $(window).height(),
@@ -761,7 +765,7 @@ $.fn.popup = function(parameters) {
               }
               else if(!settings.lastResort) {
                 module.debug('Popup could not find a position in view', $popup);
-                module.error(error.cannotPlace, element);
+                // module.error(error.cannotPlace, element);
                 module.remove.attempts();
                 module.remove.loading();
                 module.reset();
@@ -1176,7 +1180,8 @@ $.fn.popup.settings = {
   error: {
     invalidPosition : 'The position you specified is not a valid position',
     cannotPlace     : 'No visible position could be found for the popup',
-    method          : 'The method you called is not defined.'
+    method          : 'The method you called is not defined.',
+    notFound        : 'The target or popup you specified does not exist on the page'
   },
 
   metadata: {