> From: Eric Hanchrow <eric.hanchrow@gmail.com>
> Date: Mon, 05 Dec 2016 05:20:20 +0000
> Cc: 25108@debbugs.gnu.org
>
> It read t:%%-; clicking the mouse says it's "t -- raw-text-unix".

That's a clear sign of a problem.

Does the elisp.info file has a Local Variables section at its end
which sets the file's encoding to be UTF-8?