John Edward Heymer is a British former police officer and author who has written extensively on spontaneous human combustion (SHC).
John E. Heymer | |
|---|---|
| Born | 15 January 1934 |
| Died | 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 edit
- ^ a b John E. Heymer, The Entrancing Flame: Facts of Spontaneous Human Combustion, London: Little, Brown, 1996, ISBN 0-316-87694-1
- ^ John Michell and Robert J.M. Rickard, Unexplained Phenomena: A Rough Guide Special, London: Rough Guides, 2000, ISBN 1-85828-589-5, p. 158.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Fortean Times issues 78-83 (1995), p. 40.
- ^ "Body heated", Review of The Entrancing Flame, New Scientist 4 May 1996.
- ^ John Heymer, "A Case of Spontaneous Human Combustion?", New Scientist May 15, 1986, p. 70.