John E. Heymer

John Edward Heymer is a British former police officer and author who has written extensively on spontaneous human combustion (SHC).

John E. Heymer
Born(1934-01-15)15 January 1934
Died
(2011-05-20)20 May 2011

Heymer was born in Bow, East London, in 1934 and went to South Wales at the age of 16 to become a coal miner. He returned to London two years later for National Service and spent three years in the Royal Fusiliers. He then returned to work as a miner but left after being injured during a roof fall. He joined the Monmouthshire Constabulary and spent a few years as a police constable on patrol, followed by a few years in the photography department at Police Headquarters in Croesyceiliog. He then became a Scenes of Crimes Officer and Crime Prevention Officer.

Heymer describes himself as an autodidact, with a lifelong passion for knowledge, and has written that he is not afraid to pursue this into areas where other people might fear ridicule or contempt.[1]

He was a gradual convert to belief in SHC, mainly as a result of his attendance as scene of crime officer at the apparent death by SHC of an elderly man in Ebbw Vale (Henry Thomas).[2][3]

Heymer believes that SHC is not a supernatural phenomenon, but a rare natural phenomenon that has not yet been examined sufficiently (mainly due to the difficulty presented by the results of SHC).[4][5]

He has published articles about SHC in New Scientist[6] and Fortean Times, and has appeared on the BBC television programmes Newsnight and QED ("The Burning Question").

In 1996, he published a book entitled The Entrancing Flame, which was about his personal experience of dealing with the results of SHC and attempted to analyse the phenomenon.[1]

Notes
  1. John E. Heymer, The Entrancing Flame: Facts of Spontaneous Human Combustion, London: Little, Brown, 1996, ISBN 0-316-87694-1
  2. John Michell and Robert J.M. Rickard, Unexplained Phenomena: A Rough Guide Special, London: Rough Guides, 2000, ISBN 1-85828-589-5, p. 158.
  3. Serena Mackesy, "Burning issues: The Fortean Times, purveyor of strange phenomena, hosts a 21st birthday convention this weekend. Serena Mackesy looks forward to it", The Independent 16 June 1994.
  4. Fortean Times issues 78-83 (1995), p. 40.
  5. "Body heated", Review of The Entrancing Flame, New Scientist 4 May 1996.
  6. John Heymer, "A Case of Spontaneous Human Combustion?", New Scientist May 15, 1986, p. 70.
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