diff --git a/Lib/test/test_signal.py b/Lib/test/test_signal.py
index 6f4a7bf..a7c030e 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_signal.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_signal.py
@@ -139,6 +139,10 @@
             self.fail("pause returned of its own accord, and the signal"
                       " didn't arrive after another second.")
 
+    # Issue 3864, unknown if this affects earlier versions of freebsd also
+    @unittest.skipIf(sys.platform=='freebsd6',
+        'inter process signals not reliable (do not mix well with threading) '
+        'on freebsd6')
     def test_main(self):
         # This function spawns a child process to insulate the main
         # test-running process from all the signals. It then
@@ -355,6 +359,9 @@
 
         self.assertEqual(self.hndl_called, True)
 
+    # Issue 3864, unknown if this affects earlier versions of freebsd also
+    @unittest.skipIf(sys.platform=='freebsd6',
+        'itimer not reliable (does not mix well with threading) on freebsd6')
     def test_itimer_virtual(self):
         self.itimer = signal.ITIMER_VIRTUAL
         signal.signal(signal.SIGVTALRM, self.sig_vtalrm)
@@ -376,6 +383,9 @@
         # and the handler should have been called
         self.assertEquals(self.hndl_called, True)
 
+    # Issue 3864, unknown if this affects earlier versions of freebsd also
+    @unittest.skipIf(sys.platform=='freebsd6',
+        'itimer not reliable (does not mix well with threading) on freebsd6')
     def test_itimer_prof(self):
         self.itimer = signal.ITIMER_PROF
         signal.signal(signal.SIGPROF, self.sig_prof)
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index fc3b4c0..100075e 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -1096,6 +1096,9 @@
 Tests
 -----
 
+- Issue #3864: Skip three test_signal tests on freebsd6 because they fail
+  if any thread was previously started, most likely due to a platform bug.
+
 - Issue #8193: Fix test_zlib failure with zlib 1.2.4.
 
 - Issue #8248: Add some tests for the bool type.  Patch by Gregory Nofi.