Went into a certain area of the Nether/rendered a certain area/chunk and crashed

My game crashes whenever I render a certain part/chunk of the Nether. It has happened on multiple occasions and is really frustrating me. A few weeks ago when I was in the Nether I had heard a Ghast shooting fireballs repeatedly although there were none in sight. A day later it stopped. A few days ago when venturing to one of my portals in the Nether, i noticed something odd. A motionless, flickering, large Ghast fireball, hanging about 10 blocks away from my portal in the air. I suspect that it has something to do with the crashes as it is whenever I render that part of the Nether, I crash.