diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index 864c211b0..771de3f4f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 2.8.1.dev
 ---------
 
+- fix issue #1073: avoid calling __getattr__ on potential plugin objects.
+  This fixes an incompatibility with pytest-django.  Thanks Andreas Pelme,
+  Bruno Oliveira and Ronny Pfannschmidt for contributing and Holger Krekel
+  for the fix.
+
 - Fix issue #704: handle versionconflict during plugin loading more
   gracefully.  Thanks Bruno Oliveira for the PR.
 
diff --git a/_pytest/config.py b/_pytest/config.py
index def26a02b..8be167a21 100644
--- a/_pytest/config.py
+++ b/_pytest/config.py
@@ -120,12 +120,6 @@ def _prepareconfig(args=None, plugins=None):
         raise
 
 
-def exclude_pytest_names(name):
-    return not name.startswith(name) or name == "pytest_plugins" or \
-           name.startswith("pytest_funcarg__")
-
-
-
 class PytestPluginManager(PluginManager):
     """
     Overwrites :py:class:`pluggy.PluginManager` to add pytest-specific
@@ -171,8 +165,14 @@ class PytestPluginManager(PluginManager):
         return self.add_hookspecs(module_or_class)
 
     def parse_hookimpl_opts(self, plugin, name):
-        if exclude_pytest_names(name):
-            return None
+        # pytest hooks are always prefixed with pytest_
+        # so we avoid accessing possibly non-readable attributes
+        # (see issue #1073)
+        if not name.startswith("pytest_"):
+            return
+        # ignore some historic special names which can not be hooks anyway
+        if name == "pytest_plugins" or name.startswith("pytest_funcarg__"):
+            return
 
         method = getattr(plugin, name)
         opts = super(PytestPluginManager, self).parse_hookimpl_opts(plugin, name)
diff --git a/_pytest/python.py b/_pytest/python.py
index 6548cdbf5..0ad18b3ef 100644
--- a/_pytest/python.py
+++ b/_pytest/python.py
@@ -1918,14 +1918,14 @@ class FixtureManager:
         autousenames = []
         for name in dir(holderobj):
             obj = getattr(holderobj, name, None)
-            if not callable(obj):
-                continue
             # fixture functions have a pytest_funcarg__ prefix (pre-2.3 style)
             # or are "@pytest.fixture" marked
             marker = getfixturemarker(obj)
             if marker is None:
                 if not name.startswith(self._argprefix):
                     continue
+                if not callable(obj):
+                    continue
                 marker = defaultfuncargprefixmarker
                 name = name[len(self._argprefix):]
             elif not isinstance(marker, FixtureFunctionMarker):
diff --git a/testing/test_conftest.py b/testing/test_conftest.py
index 6700502c4..a0b77cfa5 100644
--- a/testing/test_conftest.py
+++ b/testing/test_conftest.py
@@ -388,3 +388,19 @@ def test_search_conftest_up_to_inifile(testdir, confcutdir, passed, error):
     if error:
         match += '*%d error*' % error
     result.stdout.fnmatch_lines(match)
+
+
+def test_issue1073_conftest_special_objects(testdir):
+    testdir.makeconftest("""
+        class DontTouchMe:
+            def __getattr__(self, x):
+                raise Exception('cant touch me')
+
+        x = DontTouchMe()
+    """)
+    testdir.makepyfile("""
+        def test_some():
+            pass
+    """)
+    res = testdir.runpytest()
+    assert res.ret == 0