diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 71d7a96ffc..db12b6e7c2 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -3028,6 +3028,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "parking_lot 0.9.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "serde 1.0.104 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "serde_derive 1.0.104 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
+ "serde_json 1.0.44 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "serde_yaml 0.8.11 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "types 0.1.0",
 ]
diff --git a/beacon_node/beacon_chain/src/fork_choice.rs b/beacon_node/beacon_chain/src/fork_choice.rs
index 43bb588963..fde5585af2 100644
--- a/beacon_node/beacon_chain/src/fork_choice.rs
+++ b/beacon_node/beacon_chain/src/fork_choice.rs
@@ -3,13 +3,19 @@ use parking_lot::RwLock;
 use proto_array_fork_choice::ProtoArrayForkChoice;
 use ssz_derive::{Decode, Encode};
 use state_processing::common::get_attesting_indices;
+use std::fs::File;
+use std::io::Write;
 use std::marker::PhantomData;
+use std::time::{SystemTime, UNIX_EPOCH};
 use store::Error as StoreError;
 use types::{
     Attestation, BeaconBlock, BeaconState, BeaconStateError, Checkpoint, Epoch, EthSpec, Hash256,
     Slot,
 };
 
+/// If `true`, fork choice will be dumped to a JSON file in `/tmp` whenever find head fail.
+pub const FORK_CHOICE_DEBUGGING: bool = true;
+
 type Result<T> = std::result::Result<T, Error>;
 
 #[derive(Debug, PartialEq)]
@@ -250,6 +256,20 @@ impl<T: BeaconChainTypes> ForkChoice<T> {
 
         metrics::stop_timer(timer);
 
+        if FORK_CHOICE_DEBUGGING {
+            if let Err(e) = &result {
+                if let Ok(duration) = SystemTime::now().duration_since(UNIX_EPOCH) {
+                    let time = duration.as_millis();
+                    if let Ok(mut file) = File::create(format!("/tmp/fork-choice-{}", time)) {
+                        let _ = write!(file, "{:?}\n", e);
+                        if let Ok(json) = self.backend.as_json() {
+                            let _ = write!(file, "{}", json);
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
         result
     }
 
diff --git a/eth2/proto_array_fork_choice/Cargo.toml b/eth2/proto_array_fork_choice/Cargo.toml
index 687b6aefcc..14995a2172 100644
--- a/eth2/proto_array_fork_choice/Cargo.toml
+++ b/eth2/proto_array_fork_choice/Cargo.toml
@@ -17,3 +17,4 @@ eth2_ssz_derive = "0.1.0"
 serde = "1.0.102"
 serde_derive = "1.0.102"
 serde_yaml = "0.8.11"
+serde_json = "1.0"
diff --git a/eth2/proto_array_fork_choice/src/proto_array.rs b/eth2/proto_array_fork_choice/src/proto_array.rs
index 9bfa6abeb2..facd602144 100644
--- a/eth2/proto_array_fork_choice/src/proto_array.rs
+++ b/eth2/proto_array_fork_choice/src/proto_array.rs
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 use crate::error::Error;
+use serde_derive::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 use ssz_derive::{Decode, Encode};
 use std::collections::HashMap;
 use types::{Epoch, Hash256, Slot};
 
-#[derive(Clone, PartialEq, Debug, Encode, Decode)]
+#[derive(Clone, PartialEq, Debug, Encode, Decode, Serialize, Deserialize)]
 pub struct ProtoNode {
     /// The `slot` is not necessary for `ProtoArray`, it just exists so external components can
     /// easily query the block slot. This is useful for upstream fork choice logic.
@@ -17,7 +18,7 @@ pub struct ProtoNode {
     best_descendant: Option<usize>,
 }
 
-#[derive(PartialEq)]
+#[derive(PartialEq, Serialize, Deserialize)]
 pub struct ProtoArray {
     /// Do not attempt to prune the tree unless it has at least this many nodes. Small prunes
     /// simply waste time.
diff --git a/eth2/proto_array_fork_choice/src/proto_array_fork_choice.rs b/eth2/proto_array_fork_choice/src/proto_array_fork_choice.rs
index 1fc8dfaa7a..b3de443f31 100644
--- a/eth2/proto_array_fork_choice/src/proto_array_fork_choice.rs
+++ b/eth2/proto_array_fork_choice/src/proto_array_fork_choice.rs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ use crate::error::Error;
 use crate::proto_array::ProtoArray;
 use crate::ssz_container::SszContainer;
 use parking_lot::RwLock;
+use serde_json;
 use ssz::{Decode, Encode};
 use ssz_derive::{Decode, Encode};
 use std::collections::HashMap;
@@ -220,6 +221,11 @@ impl ProtoArrayForkChoice {
             .map(Into::into)
             .map_err(|e| format!("Failed to decode ProtoArrayForkChoice: {:?}", e))
     }
+
+    pub fn as_json(&self) -> Result<String, String> {
+        serde_json::to_string(&*self.proto_array.read())
+            .map_err(|e| format!("Failed to JSON encode proto_array: {:?}", e))
+    }
 }
 
 /// Returns a list of `deltas`, where there is one delta for each of the indices in