diff --git a/testament/tests/shouldfail/tvalgrind.nim b/testament/tests/shouldfail/tvalgrind.nim
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4f699fd3b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testament/tests/shouldfail/tvalgrind.nim
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+discard """
+valgrind: true
+cmd: "nim $target --gc:arc -d:useMalloc $options $file"
+"""
+
+# this is the same check used by testament/specs.nim whether or not valgrind
+# tests are supported
+when defined(linux) and sizeof(int) == 8:
+  # discarding this allocation will cause valgrind to fail (which is what we
+  # want), but valgrind only runs on 64-bit Linux machines...
+  discard alloc(1)
+else:
+  # ...so on all other OS/architectures, simulate any non-zero exit code to
+  # mimic how valgrind would have failed on this test. We cannot use things like
+  # `disabled: "freebsd"` in the Testament configs above or else the tests will
+  # be SKIP-ed rather than FAIL-ed
+  quit(1) # choose 1 to match valgrind's `--error-exit=1`, but could be anything
diff --git a/tests/testament/tshould_not_work.nim b/tests/testament/tshould_not_work.nim
index e7790a4df0..501e2c32f8 100644
--- a/tests/testament/tshould_not_work.nim
+++ b/tests/testament/tshould_not_work.nim
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ FAIL: tests/shouldfail/tsortoutput.nim C
 Failure: reOutputsDiffer
 FAIL: tests/shouldfail/ttimeout.nim C
 Failure: reTimeout
+FAIL: tests/shouldfail/tvalgrind.nim C
+Failure: reExitcodesDiffer
 '''
 """