diff --git a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/event/EventStreamSpec.scala b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/event/EventStreamSpec.scala
index 031fb1ccb3..2a935d14cc 100644
--- a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/event/EventStreamSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/event/EventStreamSpec.scala
@@ -51,7 +51,6 @@ class EventStreamSpec extends AkkaSpec(EventStreamSpec.config) {
 
     "manage subscriptions" in {
       val bus = new EventStream(true)
-      bus.start(impl)
       bus.subscribe(testActor, classOf[M])
       bus.publish(M(42))
       within(1 second) {
@@ -64,7 +63,6 @@ class EventStreamSpec extends AkkaSpec(EventStreamSpec.config) {
 
     "manage log levels" in {
       val bus = new EventStream(false)
-      bus.start(impl)
       bus.startDefaultLoggers(impl)
       bus.publish(SetTarget(testActor))
       expectMsg("OK")
@@ -86,7 +84,6 @@ class EventStreamSpec extends AkkaSpec(EventStreamSpec.config) {
       val b2 = new B2
       val c = new C
       val bus = new EventStream(false)
-      bus.start(impl)
       within(2 seconds) {
         bus.subscribe(testActor, classOf[B2]) === true
         bus.publish(c)
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorCell.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorCell.scala
index bfb8f4c9cf..01500a0301 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorCell.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorCell.scala
@@ -168,14 +168,6 @@ private[akka] class ActorCell(
 
   final def children: Iterable[ActorRef] = childrenRefs.values.view.map(_.child)
 
-  final def getChild(name: String): ActorRef =
-    if (isTerminated) null
-    else {
-      val c = childrenRefs
-      if (c contains name) c(name).child
-      else null
-    }
-
   final def tell(message: Any, sender: ActorRef): Unit =
     dispatcher.dispatch(this, Envelope(message, if (sender eq null) system.deadLetters else sender))
 
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRefProvider.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRefProvider.scala
index 8db16d83d3..1f7b725062 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRefProvider.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRefProvider.scala
@@ -365,6 +365,7 @@ class LocalActorRefProvider(
     def receive = {
       case Terminated(_)            ⇒ context.self.stop()
       case CreateChild(child, name) ⇒ sender ! (try context.actorOf(child, name) catch { case e: Exception ⇒ e })
+      case m                        ⇒ deadLetters ! DeadLetter(m, sender, self)
     }
   }
 
@@ -374,6 +375,7 @@ class LocalActorRefProvider(
         eventStream.stopDefaultLoggers()
         context.self.stop()
       case CreateChild(child, name) ⇒ sender ! (try context.actorOf(child, name) catch { case e: Exception ⇒ e })
+      case m                        ⇒ deadLetters ! DeadLetter(m, sender, self)
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala
index c7c29d0bdc..f1195d19c8 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala
@@ -385,7 +385,6 @@ class ActorSystemImpl(val name: String, applicationConfig: Config) extends Actor
     provider.init(this)
     deadLetters.init(dispatcher, provider.rootPath)
     // this starts the reaper actor and the user-configured logging subscribers, which are also actors
-    eventStream.start(this)
     eventStream.startDefaultLoggers(this)
     registerOnTermination(stopScheduler())
     loadExtensions()
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/event/EventStream.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/event/EventStream.scala
index 647fe2336c..6799fc7ae8 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/event/EventStream.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/event/EventStream.scala
@@ -25,41 +25,27 @@ class EventStream(debug: Boolean = false) extends LoggingBus with SubchannelClas
     def isSubclass(x: Class[_], y: Class[_]) = y isAssignableFrom x
   }
 
-  @volatile
-  private var reaper: ActorRef = _
-
   protected def classify(event: AnyRef): Class[_] = event.getClass
 
-  protected def publish(event: AnyRef, subscriber: ActorRef) = subscriber ! event
+  protected def publish(event: AnyRef, subscriber: ActorRef) = {
+    if (subscriber.isTerminated) unsubscribe(subscriber)
+    else subscriber ! event
+  }
 
   override def subscribe(subscriber: ActorRef, channel: Class[_]): Boolean = {
     if (debug) publish(Logging.Debug(simpleName(this), "subscribing " + subscriber + " to channel " + channel))
-    if (reaper ne null) reaper ! subscriber
     super.subscribe(subscriber, channel)
   }
 
   override def unsubscribe(subscriber: ActorRef, channel: Class[_]): Boolean = {
+    val ret = super.unsubscribe(subscriber, channel)
     if (debug) publish(Logging.Debug(simpleName(this), "unsubscribing " + subscriber + " from channel " + channel))
-    super.unsubscribe(subscriber, channel)
+    ret
   }
 
   override def unsubscribe(subscriber: ActorRef) {
-    if (debug) publish(Logging.Debug(simpleName(this), "unsubscribing " + subscriber + " from all channels"))
     super.unsubscribe(subscriber)
-  }
-
-  def start(system: ActorSystemImpl) {
-    reaper = system.systemActorOf(Props(new Actor {
-      def receive = {
-        case ref: ActorRef   ⇒ watch(ref)
-        case Terminated(ref) ⇒ unsubscribe(ref)
-      }
-    }), "MainBusReaper-" + EventStream.generation.incrementAndGet())
-    subscribers foreach (reaper ! _)
-  }
-
-  def stop() {
-    reaper.stop()
+    if (debug) publish(Logging.Debug(simpleName(this), "unsubscribing " + subscriber + " from all channels"))
   }
 
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteActorRefProvider.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteActorRefProvider.scala
index 40b1c09864..0e141cccc4 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteActorRefProvider.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteActorRefProvider.scala
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ class RemoteActorRefProvider(
    * Copied from LocalActorRefProvider...
    */
   // FIXME: implement supervision, ticket #1408
-  def actorOf(system: ActorSystem, props: RoutedProps, supervisor: ActorRef, name: String): InternalActorRef = {
+  def actorOf(system: ActorSystem, props: RoutedProps, supervisor: InternalActorRef, name: String): InternalActorRef = {
     if (props.connectionManager.isEmpty) throw new ConfigurationException("RoutedProps used for creating actor [" + name + "] has zero connections configured; can't create a router")
     new RoutedActorRef(system, props, supervisor, name)
   }
diff --git a/akka-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/testkit/AkkaSpec.scala b/akka-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/testkit/AkkaSpec.scala
index 8e94bf10b2..be5320ee13 100644
--- a/akka-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/testkit/AkkaSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/testkit/AkkaSpec.scala
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import akka.util.duration._
 import akka.dispatch.FutureTimeoutException
 import com.typesafe.config.Config
 import com.typesafe.config.ConfigFactory
+import akka.actor.PoisonPill
 
 object TimingTest extends Tag("timing")
 
@@ -89,7 +90,9 @@ abstract class AkkaSpec(_system: ActorSystem)
 
 @org.junit.runner.RunWith(classOf[org.scalatest.junit.JUnitRunner])
 class AkkaSpecSpec extends WordSpec with MustMatchers {
+
   "An AkkaSpec" must {
+
     "terminate all actors" in {
       import scala.collection.JavaConverters._
       val conf = Map(
@@ -103,6 +106,22 @@ class AkkaSpecSpec extends WordSpec with MustMatchers {
       system.stop()
       spec.awaitCond(spec.ref forall (_.isTerminated), 2 seconds)
     }
+
+    "must stop correctly when sending PoisonPill to rootGuardian" in {
+      import scala.collection.JavaConverters._
+      val conf = Map(
+        "akka.actor.debug.lifecycle" -> true, "akka.actor.debug.event-stream" -> true,
+        "akka.loglevel" -> "DEBUG", "akka.stdout-loglevel" -> "DEBUG")
+      val system = ActorSystem("test", ConfigFactory.parseMap(conf.asJava).withFallback(AkkaSpec.testConf))
+      val spec = new AkkaSpec(system) {}
+      val latch = new TestLatch(1)(system)
+      system.registerOnTermination(latch.countDown())
+
+      system.actorFor("/") ! PoisonPill
+
+      latch.await(2 seconds)
+    }
+
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/akka-tutorials/akka-tutorial-first/src/main/java/akka/tutorial/first/java/Pi.java b/akka-tutorials/akka-tutorial-first/src/main/java/akka/tutorial/first/java/Pi.java
index 5a80699ade..fb8457855d 100644
--- a/akka-tutorials/akka-tutorial-first/src/main/java/akka/tutorial/first/java/Pi.java
+++ b/akka-tutorials/akka-tutorial-first/src/main/java/akka/tutorial/first/java/Pi.java
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ package akka.tutorial.first.java;
 
 import akka.actor.ActorRef;
 import akka.actor.ActorSystem;
+import akka.actor.InternalActorRef;
 import akka.actor.UntypedActor;
 import akka.actor.UntypedActorFactory;
 import akka.japi.Creator;
@@ -115,7 +116,8 @@ public class Pi {
                 }
             };
             RoutedProps props = new RoutedProps(routerCreator, new LocalConnectionManager(actors), new akka.actor.Timeout(-1), true);
-            router = new RoutedActorRef(system(), props, getSelf(), "pi");
+            // FIXME REALLY this NEEDS to use getContext()!
+            router = new RoutedActorRef(system(), props, (InternalActorRef) getSelf(), "pi");
         }
 
         // message handler
diff --git a/akka-tutorials/akka-tutorial-first/src/main/scala/Pi.scala b/akka-tutorials/akka-tutorial-first/src/main/scala/Pi.scala
index 3283a591f4..7199d42e02 100644
--- a/akka-tutorials/akka-tutorial-first/src/main/scala/Pi.scala
+++ b/akka-tutorials/akka-tutorial-first/src/main/scala/Pi.scala
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ package akka.tutorial.first.scala
 import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch
 import akka.routing.{ RoutedActorRef, LocalConnectionManager, RoundRobinRouter, RoutedProps }
 import akka.actor.{ ActorSystemImpl, Actor, ActorSystem }
+import akka.actor.InternalActorRef
 
 object Pi extends App {
 
@@ -55,8 +56,9 @@ object Pi extends App {
     val workers = Vector.fill(nrOfWorkers)(system.actorOf[Worker])
 
     // wrap them with a load-balancing router
+    // FIXME REALLY this needs to use context to create the child!
     val props = RoutedProps(routerFactory = () ⇒ new RoundRobinRouter, connectionManager = new LocalConnectionManager(workers))
-    val router = new RoutedActorRef(system, props, self, "pi")
+    val router = new RoutedActorRef(system, props, self.asInstanceOf[InternalActorRef], "pi")
 
     // message handler
     def receive = {