diff --git a/numpydoc/docscrape.py b/numpydoc/docscrape.py
index 0e0af470..c41b98fe 100644
--- a/numpydoc/docscrape.py
+++ b/numpydoc/docscrape.py
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ def _read_to_next_section(self):
 
             section += self._doc.read_to_next_empty_line()
 
-        return section
+        return dedent_lines(section)
 
     def _read_sections(self):
         while not self._doc.eof():
@@ -570,6 +570,8 @@ def __str__(self, func_role=""):
 
 def dedent_lines(lines):
     """Deindent a list of lines maximally"""
+    if not lines:
+        return lines
     return textwrap.dedent("\n".join(lines)).split("\n")