diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/facet/statistical/StatisticalFacetParser.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/facet/statistical/StatisticalFacetParser.java
index e4be4db33e2..1f553421d15 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/facet/statistical/StatisticalFacetParser.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/facet/statistical/StatisticalFacetParser.java
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentParser;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.fielddata.IndexNumericFieldData;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.FieldMapper;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.core.NumberFieldMapper;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.facet.FacetExecutor;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.facet.FacetParser;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.facet.FacetPhaseExecutionException;
@@ -104,6 +105,9 @@ public class StatisticalFacetParser extends AbstractComponent implements FacetPa
                 if (fieldMapper == null) {
                     throw new FacetPhaseExecutionException(facetName, "No mapping found for field [" + fieldsNames[i] + "]");
                 }
+                if (!(fieldMapper instanceof NumberFieldMapper)) {
+                    throw new FacetPhaseExecutionException(facetName, "field [" + field + "] isn't a number field, but a " + fieldMapper.fieldDataType().getType());
+                }
                 indexFieldDatas[i] = context.fieldData().getForField(fieldMapper);
             }
             return new StatisticalFieldsFacetExecutor(indexFieldDatas, context);
@@ -116,6 +120,9 @@ public class StatisticalFacetParser extends AbstractComponent implements FacetPa
             if (fieldMapper == null) {
                 throw new FacetPhaseExecutionException(facetName, "No mapping found for field [" + field + "]");
             }
+            if (!(fieldMapper instanceof NumberFieldMapper)) {
+                throw new FacetPhaseExecutionException(facetName, "field [" + field + "] isn't a number field, but a " + fieldMapper.fieldDataType().getType());
+            }
             IndexNumericFieldData indexFieldData = context.fieldData().getForField(fieldMapper);
             return new StatisticalFacetExecutor(indexFieldData, context);
         } else {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/facet/termsstats/TermsStatsFacetParser.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/facet/termsstats/TermsStatsFacetParser.java
index 02fee504c4d..91cd44a87e6 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/facet/termsstats/TermsStatsFacetParser.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/facet/termsstats/TermsStatsFacetParser.java
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentParser;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.fielddata.IndexFieldData;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.fielddata.IndexNumericFieldData;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.FieldMapper;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.core.NumberFieldMapper;
 import org.elasticsearch.script.SearchScript;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.facet.FacetExecutor;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.facet.FacetParser;
@@ -121,7 +122,11 @@ public class TermsStatsFacetParser extends AbstractComponent implements FacetPar
         IndexNumericFieldData valueIndexFieldData = null;
         SearchScript valueScript = null;
         if (valueField != null) {
-            valueIndexFieldData = context.fieldData().getForField(context.smartNameFieldMapper(valueField));
+            FieldMapper fieldMapper = context.smartNameFieldMapper(valueField);
+            if (!(fieldMapper instanceof NumberFieldMapper)) {
+                throw new FacetPhaseExecutionException(facetName, "value_field [" + valueField + "] isn't a number field, but a " + fieldMapper.fieldDataType().getType());
+            }
+            valueIndexFieldData = context.fieldData().getForField(fieldMapper);
         } else {
             valueScript = context.scriptService().search(context.lookup(), scriptLang, script, params);
         }