diff --git a/markdown/extensions/footnotes.py b/markdown/extensions/footnotes.py
index d8caae27c..b52815f3c 100644
--- a/markdown/extensions/footnotes.py
+++ b/markdown/extensions/footnotes.py
@@ -96,7 +96,9 @@ def finder(element):
                 if child.tail:
                     if child.tail.find(self.getConfig("PLACE_MARKER")) > -1:
                         return child, element, False
-                finder(child)
+                child_res = finder(child)
+                if child_res is not None:
+                    return child_res
             return None
 
         res = finder(root)
diff --git a/tests/extensions/extra/footnote_placeholder_depth.html b/tests/extensions/extra/footnote_placeholder_depth.html
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9793a493e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/extensions/extra/footnote_placeholder_depth.html
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+<blockquote>
+<blockquote>
+<div class="footnote">
+<hr />
+<ol>
+<li id="fn:1">
+<p>A Footnote.&#160;<a class="footnote-backref" href="#fnref:1" rev="footnote" title="Jump back to footnote 1 in the text">&#8617;</a></p>
+</li>
+</ol>
+</div>
+<p>Some text with a footnote<sup id="fnref:1"><a class="footnote-ref" href="#fn:1" rel="footnote">1</a></sup>.</p>
+</blockquote>
+</blockquote>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/extensions/extra/footnote_placeholder_depth.txt b/tests/extensions/extra/footnote_placeholder_depth.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cfe87c00f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/extensions/extra/footnote_placeholder_depth.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+>> ///Footnotes Go Here///
+>>
+>> Some text with a footnote[^1].
+
+[^1]: A Footnote.