How can I fix a corrupted PGP file?

Question

I've encrypted a file with PGP but for "security reasons" I thought it would be good to damage the header and add some extra bytes so that even if someone finds it it won't know for sure it's a PGP file as the decryption check would fail.

The issue is that now I can't remember what extra bytes I've added. Is there any way that I can "force" the decryption or sanitize the file / remove the extra bytes?

Update:

I've used the script provided by Jens to remove the bytes until I get a prompt for the password. Unfortunately the password(s) I remember don't seem to work. Also if I keep removing bytes after the first prompt I still get the password prompt from time to time so I'm wondering if the method is really effective. See the log below

./a.bh
Trying bytes: 1
gpg: no valid OpenPGP data found.
gpg: processing message failed: eof
Trying bytes: 2
gpg: no valid OpenPGP data found.
gpg: processing message failed: eof
Trying bytes: 3
gpg: no valid OpenPGP data found.
gpg: processing message failed: eof
Trying bytes: 4
gpg: [don't know]: indeterminate length for invalid packet type 4
Trying bytes: 5
gpg: no valid OpenPGP data found.
gpg: processing message failed: eof
Trying bytes: 6
gpg: packet(6) with unknown version 125
Trying bytes: 7

........................
Trying bytes: 21
gpg: no valid OpenPGP data found.
gpg: processing message failed: eof
Trying bytes: 22
gpg: [don't know]: indeterminate length for invalid packet type 6
...........................
Trying bytes: 24
:literal data packet:
    mode ? (4), created 2823998230, name="U\x07\x82Swo\xe6\xd9\x82\xd9[C\x16\xba\xeb\xa50r\xcd#\x03\xbd>\xec*l>\xbd\xb2\xcb\x0b\x01\xa6g0\xfeQU\xa6\xc0\x87\xdbk9\xf9o\x88\x8dr\xec\xfe\xeb\xb38\x93W\xeb\xcb\xd3\xc4\x80\xf1\xda\x9b(\x8d\xa1\xbb\xf6\xf6\x9a\xd0:v\x81\xe5rF\xe09N\xda\xf3\x90\xcd\xf0.\xb0\xabf<\x96\xf2\x8d\xbd\x8b\x95\x99\x89:q[)\x0c\xf5X\xbd2\x083\xc1\x97\xb7\xee\x84S\xf2\xcfi\xf1\xa2\x93\x15\xe9kI\xaa\x9d*;\x06\x0e\x9c\x04\x13\x87\x88u\xe7]U]\xbc\xb2\x92\x91\x02;9p\x95\x081\xe9v\xa5\xc3\x7e+#Z\xb9\xb8Ka\x18\x96\x82K\xaf6\xb0f\xb8\x8d0\x17\xe2D\xc3&\xe5\xd9\x94\xad\x05,L\xb7\xcc\xfb\x7c",
    raw data: 35666 bytes
gpg: invalid marker packet
Trying bytes: 25
gpg: unknown S2K 85
gpg: invalid symkey encrypted packet
gpg: [don't know]: invalid packet (ctb=3e)
Trying bytes: 26
gpg: no valid OpenPGP data found.
gpg: processing message failed: eof
Trying bytes: 27
..................
Trying bytes: 43
gpg: no valid OpenPGP data found.
gpg: processing message failed: eof
Trying bytes: 44
--- on this line I get the password for the prompt and I simply press enter
:encrypted data packet:
    length: 12402
gpg: assuming IDEA encrypted data
gpg: packet(3) with unknown version 94
gpg: WARNING: message was not integrity protected
gpg: [don't know]: invalid packet (ctb=22)
Trying bytes: 45
gpg: no valid OpenPGP data found.
gpg: processing message failed: eof
Trying bytes: 46
.........................
Trying bytes: 58
:literal data packet:
    mode ? (1), created 2797635547, name="g0\xfeQU\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00",
    raw data: 0 bytes
gpg: [don't know]: invalid packet (ctb=6b)
.......... 
//I get the password prompt again on this line
Trying bytes: 61
:encrypted data packet:
    length: 1731264081
gpg: assuming IDEA encrypted data
Enter passphrase: 
:encrypted data packet:
    length: 1731264081
gpg: assuming IDEA encrypted data
gpg: encrypted_mdc packet with unknown version 235
gpg: WARNING: message was not integrity protected
:trust packet: flag=75 sigcache=00
gpg: [don't know]: invalid packet (ctb=21)
.....................
Trying bytes: 66
gpg: no valid OpenPGP data found.
gpg: processing message failed: eof
//here I get the password prompt again
Trying bytes: 67
:encrypted data packet:
    length: 3230129003
gpg: assuming IDEA encrypted data
gpg: encrypted_mdc packet with unknown version 180
gpg: WARNING: message was not integrity protected
gpg: packet(2) with unknown version 59

I should mention that the file (which actually is a directory) was encrypted using PGP (now owner by Symantec)

Answer 1

As you only prefixed some garbage, try to remove it again. Using bash, you can easily try all possible numbers of bytes:

for i in {1..10}; do echo "Trying bytes: ${i}"; tail -c "+${i}" garbled.pgp | gpg --list-packets; done

This will try to list the file's contents, cutting of one more byte each try. Once it cut off the right number of bytes, it will ask for the password, otherwise just continue cutting of one more byte. Adjust the maximal number of bytes to try (here: 10) appropriately. A large number won't harm, as you can interrupt as soon as you found the right number of bytes using ctrl+c.

Once you found the right number of bytes to cut off, run (for 42 bytes)

tail -c +42 garbled.pgp > fixed.pgp

Now, decrypt fixed.pgp the usual way.