diff --git a/stix2/datastore/filesystem.py b/stix2/datastore/filesystem.py
index 26d0c58..b525932 100644
--- a/stix2/datastore/filesystem.py
+++ b/stix2/datastore/filesystem.py
@@ -301,11 +301,27 @@ class FileSystemSource(DataSource):
         for path in include_paths:
             for root, dirs, files in os.walk(path):
                 for file_ in files:
+                    if not file_.endswith(".json"):
+                        # skip non '.json' files as more likely to be random non-STIX files
+                        continue
+
                     if not id_ or id_ == file_.split(".")[0]:
                         # have to load into memory regardless to evaluate other filters
-                        stix_obj = json.load(open(os.path.join(root, file_)))
-                        if stix_obj.get('type', '') == 'bundle':
-                            stix_obj = stix_obj['objects'][0]
+                        try:
+                            stix_obj = json.load(open(os.path.join(root, file_)))
+
+                            if stix_obj["type"] == "bundle":
+                                stix_obj = stix_obj["objects"][0]
+
+                            # naive STIX type checking
+                            stix_obj["type"]
+                            stix_obj["id"]
+
+                        except (ValueError, KeyError):  # likely not a JSON file
+                            print("filesytem TypeError raised")
+                            raise TypeError("STIX JSON object at '{0}' could either not be parsed to "
+                                            "JSON or was not valid STIX JSON".format(os.path.join(root, file_)))
+
                         # check against other filters, add if match
                         all_data.extend(apply_common_filters([stix_obj], query))
 
diff --git a/stix2/test/test_filesystem.py b/stix2/test/test_filesystem.py
index 020fee5..f59136e 100644
--- a/stix2/test/test_filesystem.py
+++ b/stix2/test/test_filesystem.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import json
 import os
 import shutil
 
@@ -45,6 +46,41 @@ def fs_sink():
     shutil.rmtree(os.path.join(FS_PATH, "campaign"), True)
 
 
+@pytest.fixture
+def bad_json_files():
+    # create erroneous JSON files for tests to make sure handled gracefully
+
+    with open(os.path.join(FS_PATH, "intrusion-set", "intrusion-set--test-non-json.txt"), "w+") as f:
+        f.write("Im not a JSON file")
+
+    with open(os.path.join(FS_PATH, "intrusion-set", "intrusion-set--test-bad-json.json"), "w+") as f:
+        f.write("Im not a JSON formatted file")
+
+    yield True  # dummy yield so can have teardown
+
+    os.remove(os.path.join(FS_PATH, "intrusion-set", "intrusion-set--test-non-json.txt"))
+    os.remove(os.path.join(FS_PATH, "intrusion-set", "intrusion-set--test-bad-json.json"))
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def bad_stix_files():
+    # create erroneous STIX JSON files for tests to make sure handled correctly
+
+    # bad STIX object
+    stix_obj = {
+        "id": "intrusion-set--test-bad-stix",
+        "spec_version": "2.0"
+        # no "type" field
+    }
+
+    with open(os.path.join(FS_PATH, "intrusion-set", "intrusion-set--test-non-stix.json"), "w+") as f:
+        f.write(json.dumps(stix_obj))
+
+    yield True  # dummy yield so can have teardown
+
+    os.remove(os.path.join(FS_PATH, "intrusion-set", "intrusion-set--test-non-stix.json"))
+
+
 @pytest.fixture(scope='module')
 def rel_fs_store():
     cam = Campaign(id=CAMPAIGN_ID, **CAMPAIGN_KWARGS)
@@ -76,6 +112,26 @@ def test_filesystem_sink_nonexistent_folder():
     assert "for STIX data does not exist" in str(excinfo)
 
 
+def test_filesystem_source_bad_json_file(fs_source, bad_json_files):
+    # this tests the handling of two bad json files
+    #  - one file should just be skipped (silently) as its a ".txt" extension
+    #  - one file should be parsed and raise Exception bc its not JSON
+    try:
+        fs_source.get("intrusion-set--test-bad-json")
+    except TypeError as e:
+        assert "intrusion-set--test-bad-json" in str(e)
+        assert "could either not be parsed to JSON or was not valid STIX JSON" in str(e)
+
+
+def test_filesystem_source_bad_stix_file(fs_source, bad_stix_files):
+    # this tests handling of bad STIX json object
+    try:
+        fs_source.get("intrusion-set--test-non-stix")
+    except TypeError as e:
+        assert "intrusion-set--test-non-stix" in str(e)
+        assert "could either not be parsed to JSON or was not valid STIX JSON" in str(e)
+
+
 def test_filesytem_source_get_object(fs_source):
     # get object
     mal = fs_source.get("malware--6b616fc1-1505-48e3-8b2c-0d19337bff38")