diff --git a/src/ClusterReader.c b/src/ClusterReader.c
index e0c864c..296dcc6 100644
--- a/src/ClusterReader.c
+++ b/src/ClusterReader.c
@@ -74,10 +74,12 @@ static void ClusterFileReader_dealloc(ClusterFileReader *self) {
 static PyObject *ClusterFileReader_read(ClusterFileReader *self,
                                         PyObject *args) {
 
-    const int ndim = 1;
+    
     Py_ssize_t size = 0;
     PyObject *noise_obj = NULL;
-    PyObject *noise_array = NULL;
+    
+
+    //refcount of the python object is not increased when parsing with O
     if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "|nO", &size, &noise_obj)) {
         PyErr_SetString(PyExc_TypeError, "Could not parse args.");
         return NULL;
@@ -101,44 +103,43 @@ static PyObject *ClusterFileReader_read(ClusterFileReader *self,
 
     // If the user passed a noise map we fetch a pointer to that array as well
     int nx = 0, ny = 0;
+    PyObject *noise_array = NULL; 
     double *noise_map = NULL;
     if (noise_obj) {
-        noise_array =
-            PyArray_FROM_OTF(noise_obj, NPY_DOUBLE, NPY_ARRAY_C_CONTIGUOUS);
+        //The user could have passes Py_None to indicate no noise map
+        //in that case we do nothing. 
+        if (noise_obj == Py_None){
+            printf("Got Py_None as noise map, doing nothing\n");
+        }else{
+            //Check that we really got a numpy array and not any kind of PyObject
+            if(!PyArray_CheckExact(noise_obj)){
+                PyErr_SetString(PyExc_TypeError, "Noise map has to be a numpy array (or None).");
+                //TODO! Cleanup? 
+                return NULL;
+            }
 
-        int ndim_noise = PyArray_NDIM((PyArrayObject *)(noise_array));
-        npy_intp *noise_shape = PyArray_SHAPE((PyArrayObject *)(noise_array));
+            noise_array =
+                PyArray_FROM_OTF(noise_obj, NPY_DOUBLE, NPY_ARRAY_IN_ARRAY | NPY_ARRAY_ENSUREARRAY);
+            
+            int ndim_noise = PyArray_NDIM((PyArrayObject *)(noise_array));
+            npy_intp *noise_shape = PyArray_SHAPE((PyArrayObject *)(noise_array));
 
-        // For the C++ function call we need pointers (or another C++ type/data
-        // structure)
-
-        noise_map = (double *)(PyArray_DATA((PyArrayObject *)(noise_array)));
-
-        /* for (int i=0; i< ndim_noise; i++) { */
-        /*   printf("Dimension %d size %d pointer \n",i,noise_shape[i],
-         * noise_map); */
-
-        /* } */
-
-        if (ndim_noise == 2) {
-
-            nx = noise_shape[0];
-            ny = noise_shape[1];
-
-            //	printf("Noise map found size %d %d %d\n",nx,ny,noise_map);
-
-        } else {
-            nx = 0;
-            if (ndim_noise == 1)
+            // For the C++ function call we need pointers (or another C++ type/data
+            //  structure)
+            if (ndim_noise == 2) {
                 nx = noise_shape[0];
-            ny = 0;
-            noise_map = NULL;
-            //	printf("NO Noise map found %d %d %d
-            //%d\n",ndim_noise,nx,ny,noise_map);
+                ny = noise_shape[1];
+                noise_map = (double *)(PyArray_DATA((PyArrayObject *)(noise_array)));
+            } else {
+                PyErr_SetString(PyExc_TypeError, "Noise map has to be 2D.");
+                //TODO! Cleanup? 
+                return NULL;
+            }
         }
     }
 
     // Create an uninitialized numpy array
+    const int ndim = 1;
     PyObject *clusters = PyArray_SimpleNewFromDescr(ndim, dims, cluster_dt());
 
     // Fill with zeros
@@ -172,6 +173,10 @@ static PyObject *ClusterFileReader_read(ClusterFileReader *self,
         PyArray_Resize((PyArrayObject *)clusters, &new_shape, 1, NPY_ANYORDER);
     }
 
+
+    //refcount of noise_obj was not increased
+    //XDECREF also works if noise_array is NULL
+    Py_XDECREF(noise_array);
     return clusters;
 }