diff --git a/hashdiff.gemspec b/hashdiff.gemspec
index c50bd0d..53e6650 100644
--- a/hashdiff.gemspec
+++ b/hashdiff.gemspec
@@ -22,4 +22,5 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |s|
   s.add_development_dependency("rspec",    "~> 2.0")
   s.add_development_dependency("yard")
   s.add_development_dependency("bluecloth")
+  s.add_development_dependency("pry")
 end
diff --git a/lib/hashdiff/util.rb b/lib/hashdiff/util.rb
index bbb23ce..8efdaec 100644
--- a/lib/hashdiff/util.rb
+++ b/lib/hashdiff/util.rb
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ def self.decode_property_path(path, delimiter='.')
   def self.node(hash, parts)
     temp = hash
     parts.each do |part|
-      temp = temp[part]
+      temp = (temp[part] ||= {})
     end
     temp
   end
diff --git a/spec/hashdiff/patch_spec.rb b/spec/hashdiff/patch_spec.rb
index 8f4df82..7970bf4 100644
--- a/spec/hashdiff/patch_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/hashdiff/patch_spec.rb
@@ -180,4 +180,12 @@
     b = {"a" => 5, :a => 6, 0 => 7}
     HashDiff.unpatch!(b, diff).should == a
   end
+
+  it "should auto create empty hash. BUG: cannot convert array" do
+    a = {}
+    HashDiff.patch!(a, [['+', 'a.b.c', 'a'], ['+', 'a.b.d', 'b'], ['+', 'b.c[1]', 'c']]).should == {
+      'a' => { 'b' => { 'c' => 'a', 'd' => 'b'} },
+      'b' => { 'c' => { 1 => 'c' } }
+    }
+  end
 end