diff --git a/compiler/main/HeaderInfo.hs b/compiler/main/HeaderInfo.hs
index 76f67b25dbdfc24cfdb7fee02ea60401fc8fb7fe..127cc6d911000555b11a38ebbd976dab859f3fed 100644
--- a/compiler/main/HeaderInfo.hs
+++ b/compiler/main/HeaderInfo.hs
@@ -244,7 +244,8 @@ getOptions' dflags toks
               | IToptions_prag str <- getToken open
               , ITclose_prag       <- getToken close
               = case toArgs str of
-                  Left err -> panic ("getOptions'.parseToks: " ++ err)
+                  Left _err -> optionsParseError str dflags $   -- #15053
+                                 combineSrcSpans (getLoc open) (getLoc close)
                   Right args -> map (L (getLoc open)) args ++ parseToks xs
           parseToks (open:close:xs)
               | ITinclude_prag str <- getToken open
@@ -314,17 +315,15 @@ checkExtension dflags (L l ext)
 
 languagePragParseError :: DynFlags -> SrcSpan -> a
 languagePragParseError dflags loc =
-  throw $ mkSrcErr $ unitBag $
-     (mkPlainErrMsg dflags loc $
+    throwErr dflags loc $
        vcat [ text "Cannot parse LANGUAGE pragma"
             , text "Expecting comma-separated list of language options,"
             , text "each starting with a capital letter"
-            , nest 2 (text "E.g. {-# LANGUAGE TemplateHaskell, GADTs #-}") ])
+            , nest 2 (text "E.g. {-# LANGUAGE TemplateHaskell, GADTs #-}") ]
 
 unsupportedExtnError :: DynFlags -> SrcSpan -> String -> a
 unsupportedExtnError dflags loc unsup =
-  throw $ mkSrcErr $ unitBag $
-    mkPlainErrMsg dflags loc $
+    throwErr dflags loc $
         text "Unsupported extension: " <> text unsup $$
         if null suggestions then Outputable.empty else text "Perhaps you meant" <+> quotedListWithOr (map text suggestions)
   where
@@ -340,3 +339,14 @@ optionsErrorMsgs dflags unhandled_flags flags_lines _filename
             ErrUtils.mkPlainErrMsg dflags flagSpan $
                     text "unknown flag in  {-# OPTIONS_GHC #-} pragma:" <+> text flag
 
+optionsParseError :: String -> DynFlags -> SrcSpan -> a     -- #15053
+optionsParseError str dflags loc =
+  throwErr dflags loc $
+      vcat [ text "Error while parsing OPTIONS_GHC pragma."
+           , text "Expecting whitespace-separated list of GHC options."
+           , text "  E.g. {-# OPTIONS_GHC -Wall -O2 #-}"
+           , text ("Input was: " ++ show str) ]
+
+throwErr :: DynFlags -> SrcSpan -> SDoc -> a                -- #15053
+throwErr dflags loc doc =
+  throw $ mkSrcErr $ unitBag $ mkPlainErrMsg dflags loc doc
diff --git a/testsuite/tests/parser/should_fail/T15053.stderr b/testsuite/tests/parser/should_fail/T15053.stderr
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..0544327c5e2c98bcca73ef5e1ee3c369104d68d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testsuite/tests/parser/should_fail/T15053.stderr
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+T15053.hs:1:16:
+    Error while parsing OPTIONS_GHC pragma.
+    Expecting whitespace-separated list of GHC options.
+      E.g. {-# OPTIONS_GHC -Wall -O2 #-}
+    Input was: " -O1 }/n/"/n  "
diff --git a/testsuite/tests/parser/should_fail/all.T b/testsuite/tests/parser/should_fail/all.T
index 93d0e0a9dda68b31161cad4194bb3ae6a101d0ed..cf1202f943a0775f6764c15858111f61dce45b17 100644
--- a/testsuite/tests/parser/should_fail/all.T
+++ b/testsuite/tests/parser/should_fail/all.T
@@ -125,4 +125,4 @@ test('typeops_A', normal, compile_fail, [''])
 test('typeops_B', normal, compile_fail, [''])
 test('typeops_C', normal, compile_fail, [''])
 test('typeops_D', normal, compile_fail, [''])
-test('T15053', expect_broken(15053), compile_fail, ['']) # shouldn't panic
+test('T15053', normal, compile_fail, [''])