diff --git a/src/index.spec.ts b/src/index.spec.ts
index cfb7f4ffe..725bb8b1d 100644
--- a/src/index.spec.ts
+++ b/src/index.spec.ts
@@ -340,12 +340,36 @@ describe('ts-node', function () {
       })
     })
 
-    it('issue #884', function (done) {
-      exec(`node "${BIN_PATH}" --project tests/issue-884/tsconfig.json tests/issue-884`, function (err, stdout) {
-        expect(err).to.equal(null)
-        expect(stdout).to.equal('')
+    describe('issue #884', function () {
+      it('should compile', function (done) {
+        exec(`node "${BIN_PATH}" --project tests/issue-884/tsconfig.json tests/issue-884`, function (err, stdout) {
+          expect(err).to.equal(null)
+          expect(stdout).to.equal('')
 
-        return done()
+          return done()
+        })
+      })
+    })
+
+    describe('issue #986', function () {
+      it('should not compile', function (done) {
+        exec(`node "${BIN_PATH}" --project tests/issue-986/tsconfig.json tests/issue-986`, function (err, stdout, stderr) {
+          expect(err).not.to.equal(null)
+          expect(stderr).to.contain('Cannot find name \'TEST\'') // TypeScript error.
+          expect(stdout).to.equal('')
+
+          return done()
+        })
+      })
+
+      it('should compile with `--files`', function (done) {
+        exec(`node "${BIN_PATH}" --files --project tests/issue-986/tsconfig.json tests/issue-986`, function (err, stdout, stderr) {
+          expect(err).not.to.equal(null)
+          expect(stderr).to.contain('ReferenceError: TEST is not defined') // Runtime error.
+          expect(stdout).to.equal('')
+
+          return done()
+        })
       })
     })
 
diff --git a/tests/issue-986/index.ts b/tests/issue-986/index.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fb8e23051
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/issue-986/index.ts
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+console.log(TEST)
diff --git a/tests/issue-986/tsconfig.json b/tests/issue-986/tsconfig.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..28900bb1b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/issue-986/tsconfig.json
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+{
+  "compilerOptions": {
+    "module": "CommonJS"
+  }
+}
diff --git a/tests/issue-986/types.ts b/tests/issue-986/types.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..88473dfa4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/issue-986/types.ts
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+declare const TEST: string