Fossils wiki inserts extra p tags around the first row in the first column of every table, for example:
<verbatim>
<table>
 <tr>
  <td>first item</td>
  <td>second item</td>
 </tr>
</table>
</verbatim>

renders as

<verbatim>
<table>
 <tr>
  <td><p>first item</p></td>
  <td>second item</td>
 </tr>
</table>
</verbatim>