diff --git a/MANUAL.txt b/MANUAL.txt
index d3be3b69cc85..b56121d95e15 100644
--- a/MANUAL.txt
+++ b/MANUAL.txt
@@ -5509,9 +5509,9 @@ Pandoc's Markdown allows footnotes, using the following syntax:
     isn't indented.
 
 The identifiers in footnote references may not contain spaces, tabs,
-or newlines.  These identifiers are used only to correlate the
-footnote reference with the note itself; in the output, footnotes
-will be numbered sequentially.
+newlines, or the characters `^`, `[`, or `]`. These identifiers
+are used only to correlate the footnote reference with the note
+itself; in the output, footnotes will be numbered sequentially.
 
 The footnotes themselves need not be placed at the end of the
 document.  They may appear anywhere except inside other block elements
diff --git a/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/Markdown.hs b/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/Markdown.hs
index 731ca07a665d..402893897da5 100644
--- a/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/Markdown.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/Markdown.hs
@@ -142,12 +142,6 @@ isHruleChar _   = False
 setextHChars :: [Char]
 setextHChars = "=-"
 
-isBlank :: Char -> Bool
-isBlank ' '  = True
-isBlank '\t' = True
-isBlank '\n' = True
-isBlank _    = False
-
 --
 -- auxiliary functions
 --
@@ -416,7 +410,9 @@ abbrevKey = do
     return $ return mempty
 
 noteMarker :: PandocMonad m => MarkdownParser m Text
-noteMarker = string "[^" >> many1TillChar (satisfy $ not . isBlank) (char ']')
+noteMarker = string "[^" >>
+  many1TillChar (satisfy (`notElem` ['\r','\n','\t',' ','^','[',']']))
+                (char ']')
 
 rawLine :: PandocMonad m => MarkdownParser m Text
 rawLine = try $ do
@@ -1815,7 +1811,7 @@ endline = try $ do
 -- a reference label for a link
 reference :: PandocMonad m => MarkdownParser m (F Inlines, Text)
 reference = do
-  guardDisabled Ext_footnotes <|> notFollowedBy' (string "[^")
+  guardDisabled Ext_footnotes <|> notFollowedBy' noteMarker
   withRaw $ trimInlinesF <$> inlinesInBalancedBrackets
 
 parenthesizedChars :: PandocMonad m => MarkdownParser m Text
diff --git a/test/command/8981.md b/test/command/8981.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..00ba6d23176c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/command/8981.md
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+```
+% pandoc --wrap=none
+consectetur [^\[link\]^](#ref "Title")
+^D
+<p>consectetur <a href="#ref" title="Title"><sup>[link]</sup></a></p>
+```