diff --git a/Lib/shelve.py b/Lib/shelve.py
index fb2fa93..8271dfe 100644
--- a/Lib/shelve.py
+++ b/Lib/shelve.py
@@ -136,7 +136,11 @@
             self.dict.close()
         except AttributeError:
             pass
-        self.dict = _ClosedDict()
+        # _ClosedDict can be None when close is called from __del__ during shutdown
+        if _ClosedDict is None:
+            self.dict = None
+        else:
+            self.dict = _ClosedDict()
 
     def __del__(self):
         if not hasattr(self, 'writeback'):
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index c5b971d..054bb3d 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -79,6 +79,9 @@
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #7835: shelve should no longer produce mysterious warnings during
+  interpreter shutdown.
+
 - Issue #6233: ElementTree failed converting unicode characters to XML
   entities when they could't be represented in the requested output
   encoding.  Patch by Jerry Chen.