diff --git a/CRM/Core/Error.php b/CRM/Core/Error.php
index 5e6b349e574c..c9a26f8a79f6 100644
--- a/CRM/Core/Error.php
+++ b/CRM/Core/Error.php
@@ -468,8 +468,8 @@ function_exists($config->fatalErrorHandler)
    *
    * @param string $name name of debug section
    * @param mixed $variable reference to variables that we need a trace of
-   * @param bool $log should we log or return the output
-   * @param bool $html whether to generate a HTML-escaped output
+   * @param bool $log should we call error_log and echo a reference, or return the output
+   * @param bool $html whether to generate a HTML-escaped output (not relevant if $log is truthy)
    * @param bool $checkPermission should we check permissions before displaying output
    *                useful when we die during initialization and permissioning
    *                subsystem is not initialized - CRM-13765
@@ -485,6 +485,11 @@ public static function debug($name, $variable = NULL, $log = TRUE, $html = TRUE,
       $name = NULL;
     }
 
+    if ($log) {
+      // We don't want html crud in our text file logs.
+      $html = FALSE;
+    }
+
     $out = print_r($variable, TRUE);
     $prefix = NULL;
     if ($html) {
@@ -504,7 +509,9 @@ public static function debug($name, $variable = NULL, $log = TRUE, $html = TRUE,
       $log &&
       (!$checkPermission || CRM_Core_Permission::check('view debug output'))
     ) {
-      echo $out;
+      $unique = substr(md5(random_bytes(32)), 0, 12);
+      error_log("errorID:$unique\n$out");
+      echo "Critical error. Please see server logs for errorID:$unique";
     }
 
     return $out;