diff --git a/pyramid/static.py b/pyramid/static.py
index 71534d09cb..d3075fec0e 100644
--- a/pyramid/static.py
+++ b/pyramid/static.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 import os
 from os.path import normcase, normpath, join, getmtime, getsize, isdir, exists
 from pkg_resources import resource_exists, resource_filename, resource_isdir
@@ -178,4 +179,6 @@ def _secure_path(path_tuple):
         return None
     if any([contains_slash(item) for item in path_tuple]):
         return None
-    return '/'.join([x.encode('utf-8') for x in path_tuple])
+    encoded = u'/'.join(path_tuple) # will be unicode
+    return encoded
+
diff --git a/pyramid/tests/test_integration.py b/pyramid/tests/test_integration.py
index 753a55d366..1cbebd4c19 100644
--- a/pyramid/tests/test_integration.py
+++ b/pyramid/tests/test_integration.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+
 import os
 import unittest
 
@@ -72,20 +74,22 @@ def test_basic(self):
 
     def test_hidden(self):
         res = self.testapp.get('/static/.hiddenfile', status=200)
-        self._assertBody(res.body, os.path.join(here,
-                                                'fixtures/static/.hiddenfile'))
+        self._assertBody(
+            res.body,
+            os.path.join(here, 'fixtures/static/.hiddenfile')
+            )
 
     def test_highchars_in_pathelement(self):
-        res = self.testapp.get('/static/h\xc3\xa9h\xc3\xa9/index.html',
-                               status=200)
-        self._assertBody(res.body, os.path.join(
-            here, 'fixtures/static/h\xc3\xa9h\xc3\xa9/index.html'))
+        res = self.testapp.get('/static/héhé/index.html', status=200)
+        self._assertBody(
+            res.body, os.path.join(here, u'fixtures/static/héhé/index.html')
+            )
 
     def test_highchars_in_filename(self):
-        res = self.testapp.get('/static/h\xc3\xa9h\xc3\xa9.html',
-                               status=200)
-        self._assertBody(res.body, os.path.join(
-            here, 'fixtures/static/h\xc3\xa9h\xc3\xa9.html'))
+        res = self.testapp.get('/static/héhé.html', status=200)
+        self._assertBody(
+            res.body, os.path.join(here, u'fixtures/static/héhé.html')
+            )
 
     def test_not_modified(self):
         self.testapp.extra_environ = {