diff --git a/contrib/unbound_munin_ b/contrib/unbound_munin_
index dab296e55..0754217ba 100755
--- a/contrib/unbound_munin_
+++ b/contrib/unbound_munin_
@@ -123,6 +123,16 @@ get_value ( ) {
 get_state ( ) {
 	# obtain lock for fetching the state
 	# because there is a race condition in fetching and writing to file
+
+	# see if the lock is stale, if so, take it 
+	if test -f $lock ; then
+		pid="`cat $lock 2>&1`"
+		kill -0 "$pid" >/dev/null 2>&1
+		if test $? -ne 0 -a "$pid" != $$ ; then
+			echo $$ >$lock
+		fi
+	fi
+
 	i=0
 	while test ! -f $lock || test "`cat $lock 2>&1`" != $$; do
 		while test -f $lock; do
diff --git a/doc/Changelog b/doc/Changelog
index 77837288b..175b5253f 100644
--- a/doc/Changelog
+++ b/doc/Changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+14 April 2009: Wouter
+	- bug #245: fix munin plugin, perform cleanup of stale lockfiles.
+
 9 April 2009: Wouter
 	- Fix for removal of RSASHA256_NSEC3 protonumber from ldns.
 	- ldns tarball updated.