This particular entry into How to Write Short Horror isn’t necessarily about the technical or prose aspect of writing short horror, but rather about something more unique, and this was really the only section I could think of to put it in, so bear with me.
In this entry, #6, we’re going to go over what happens when someone dies and goes to Hell, like the literal Hell, like the place of fire, brimstone, and devils with pitchforks. I am sticking this entry in here as “inspiration” for anyone who would like to write horror fiction about it (yes, there is horror nonfiction, if you were wondering, but that’s not the point of this entry). I put “inspiration” in quotations, because not only does this make good writing material, but if Hell does exist, this should serve as a warning to never, ever, ever go there.
Why am I doing this? Because the testimonies of real people I have studied on this matter are far worse than anything I could come up with. I mean, I’m creative, and I write twisted stories with twisted endings, but I’m not that creative, and I’ve never written anything that twisted.
So, you may already be familiar with The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, which includes, of course, the first of the cantiche, the most famous of the cantiche of that book, “Inferno.” I read that stupid thing a million years ago when I’d attended college (it was basically Dante being a troll and putting his political enemies in Hell), but I can tell you right now, it does not do justice to the real thing. Personally, I think the video game adaptation of “Inferno” was better than the book, but that’s just me.
Now, I wrote a short story that was published in Bloody Twine #3 titled, “Hell Hath No Fury.” It also takes place in Hell, but once again, it does not do justice to the real thing. I also wrote a short story titled, “Nymphomania,” which takes place on the outskirts of Hell, but it too does not do justice to the real thing.
What do I mean by the “real thing”? I mean, these works of literature do not do justice to the testimonies of Hell by people who have had near death experiences (NDEs) and have “paid a visit” there.
I study all kinds of things horror related in order to improve my horror-related story telling, and this is the reason I wandered into the NDE territory of Hell, and hoo buddy, it is not pretty.
So, to make a long story short, the real people involved in these stories all had wildly different depictions of Hell, but…there were some things—whether you believe this is true or not—that were the same, and they are not what you may think they are.
So, if you think Hell is a party (which, to be fair, I don’t know why anyone would think that, but I’ve heard various preachers give this warning), you would be severely mistaken. No, Hell isn’t like this:
If you think you’ll be hanging out with the devil bros and the devil chicks, everybody’s in the buff, and there’s beer and coke and weed galore…ummm…no. It’s more like this:
It’s more like Ingolomern the Soul Collector here ripping off your head and shoving it up your unmentionables so you can eat your own (censored).
It’s not fun.
So without further ado, I’ll go over the similarities I’ve logged from NDEs of people who have visited Hell:
The Descent into Hell and the Void
The first thing people will describe isn’t usually going to Heaven and being judged by Saint Peter (not that I know of), but rather the fall into darkness.
They just fall straight down into complete and utter darkness, a darkness so vast and so oppressive that there’s no way for me to accurately describe it. Apparently, each NDE witness “falls” rather than flies or walks or any other kind of travel. They describe the sensation of falling, like someone falling through a trap door or simply falling over, but that fall is from a great height and at a speed faster than light.
Now, I call this void “The Umbra,” or “Death’s Realm,” but that’s just for my fiction. I think it’s supposed to be the vast and/or infinite distance between Heaven and Hell that’s impossible to traverse by anyone trapped in Hell. You’ll come to see there’s a lot of infinity and eternity mentioned in this post, which makes Hell worse than you can possibly imagine.
So, what’s next? Next is something I would consider ultimately horrifying, probably the most horrifying thing of all in a cosmic sense:
Cosmic Awareness and the Departure from God
NDE survivors of Hell report having a sort of “cosmic awareness” where they realize all things are connected in the universe, multiverse, or however or whatever you want to call all realities everywhere, anywhere, throughout all time and space, all at once. They all forget this knowledge the moment they are “brought back to life.” Their stories are all different, but the one thing they can all agree on is the lack of the presence of God.
They explain this phenomena like this: When in the mortal realm, regardless of how terrible a person is, they are within the presence of God, regardless of what they’ve done. They could butcher sixty-million people, but they would still be in the presence of God. However, once the descent into Hell starts, they are cut off from God. That knowledge is probably the most horrifying thing I can think of in an existential way.
Speaking of existential:
Your Mortal Body Is Just a Suit Made of Flesh and Bone, and in the Spirit World, You Feel Everything a Billion Degrees More
NDE witnesses of Hell describe the “Spirit Realm” as being the “true” or “real” realm, while the mortal realm is vastly muffled in comparison. The body is a “skin suit” that you are wearing, and once the soul is freed, you can sense everything, feel everything, to the nth degree. This, of course, means pain is felt throughout every cell in your body, so if you take a stab to the hand, for instance, you feel it everywhere, and you feel it a billion times more.
You know, honestly, I thought an abscess tooth was bad, but this is…ugh…
That reminds me…
There’s No Privacy, but You’re Always Alone
Once you’re in Hell, you can sense billions of people down there, you know exactly what they’ve done to be there, you know they know exactly what you’ve done to be there, yet you cannot interact with anyone. Oh, and a lot of times you’re naked, so if you’re ashamed about your body, you’re out of luck.
Plus, there is:
The Screaming
There is a lot of screaming in Hell. It’s deafening. I’d say it’s probably due to all of the torture. Screaming is a natural instinct for humans when they need immediate help or when they need to warn others of danger, but there’s no help forthcoming in Hell.
Which brings me to:
The Helplessness, the Hopelessness, and the Fear
So, once you’re in Hell, there is the feeling of overwhelming helplessness. You can’t do anything, really, on your own accord. You have an overpowering weakness strike you where you are pretty much floating bait for anything down there.
Then there’s the hopelessness. You know you will never escape, and—here’s the worst part—it’s eternal. It’s forever. That has to be the second worst existential crisis I can imagine.
Last, but not least, there’s the ultimate fear pulsing through you. You never know what’s going to happen to you until it’s happening, and it’s never nice.
So, now we get onto some of the other details, like…
Your Soul Is “Dry”
Apparently, your soul is “dry” down there. You are always thirsty, you are always hungry, and it’s like your entire body is parched, like a desiccated sponge. You want some respite, anything, like just one drop of water, but you can’t get it.
Which comes to the next part:
There Are, in Fact, Flames, and There Is Nothing Manmade in Hell
According to NDE witnesses of Hell, Hell is barren of anything manmade. Everything down there is a construct of evil put together by its original residents, all for the sole purpose of tormenting you and billions of others.
I’ve heard a number of NDE stories where people have burst into flames and they could feel every cell in there body burning, but Hell isn’t just limited to flames, because…
The Punishments Are Wildly Different and Are Based on Your Fears and Your Sins
The demons down there know exactly what you’ve done in your life, and worse yet, they know exactly what you’re afraid of. I won’t get into some of the descriptions of torment, but let’s just say it was bad, like really bad, like I couldn’t come up with this stuff, and I write horror for a living.
Also, apparently, 99% of the souls down there are subject to the four-letter “R-Word,” if you know what I mean. Those demons really are a bunch of—pardon the expression—giant pricks, and I’m not even making a comedic pun here.
So what’s the torment like? Well…
It’s on Repeat, and You Heal Instantaneously
So, you get tortured over and over again in various horrible, horrible ways which I will not mention here, and every time you are destroyed, you instantly heal back to full health, just like dying over and over again in a video game, but you’re getting the same punishment again an again.
Now, I’ve heard NDE survivors say they’ve gone to new punishments, switching to brand new ones over “time” (there’s no real sense of time down there, because time doesn’t exist down there), but those punishments are always on repeat.
So what are the punishments like? It’s not really something I want to mention here…I’ll describe some of it in the written word in horror stories if I feel like it, but my goodness, are their descriptions bad.
I can say that…
The Punishments Aren’t Limited to Physical Torture
There are some people who have described punishments that consist of the worst emotional humiliation and torment, usually in front of huge groups of other people.
As for geography, there’s no set geography in Hell, but there are three definable areas that I know of:
The Outskirts, the Black Gates, and the Interior
Okay, so the NDE survivors of Hell describe two areas very well, and those areas are the Outskirts and the Black Gates.
Apparently, the Outskirts are where you wake up to torment, and those demons don’t hold back. They pound the snot of you, and not in the good way. This is the taste of what kinds of things you will get once you hit the Interior.
What’s even weirder, however, are the very similar descriptions of the Black Gates. These gates are monstrous, like skyscraper tall, and they may be of different colors, but they’re almost always described as black. Also, they seem to look like they’re made of metal at a distance, but once up close, it appears they’re made of human flesh and bone, and there are even souls lodged in the walls that hold the gates.
As for the Interior? NDE survivors of Hell don’t know what the Interior is like. All of them have testified that they understood that once a soul passes through the Black Gates and into Hell’s Proper, they’re lost forever.
That definitely sucks. What’s even worse is that…
Heaven’s Shadow Is in Sight
Apparently, you can see the shadow of Heaven from across the endless void, and man, that is just adding insult to injury. You can see the party, but you weren’t invited.
So what are Hell’s original residents like…?
The Demons Vary Wildly, but Many Are Animal Hybrids
The demons in Hell are usually a warped version of uncanny humanity or they’re some kind of animal hybrid. Some look downright Cronenberg in origin. All of them, however, are horrifying.
Well, this really sucks.
I can say, however, that there is one good thing:
There Are No Children in Hell
All NDE survivors have stated that they witnessed no children in Hell, but with one caveat: there are no children under TWELVE in Hell. Apparently, once you hit puberty, you are effed. I did hear, however, that there aren’t too many twelve-year-olds in Hell, so that’s a positive.
*****
And that’s all for now. You can take what you want out of this. I just put it out there, because I noticed some similarities between NDEs of Hell trips, so take what you will and use it as you will.
In closing, I hope this information helps you on your writing journey, and my advice is and always has been: keep putting out those stories. There is no shortage of fans of short horror out there.
How to Write Short Horror #6: The Descent into Hell Copyright © 2025 Matthew L. Marlott
Note: the cover image for this post was created by public resources courtesy of Canva.com. The images of “Hell’s Party Girl,” “Ingolomern the Soul Collector,” “Naked and Afraid in Hell,” “Amy’s Big Surprise,” and “The Jabberwocky Jackass” were generated by artificial intelligence courtesy of OpenAI and were modified courtesy of SendFame.com and Canva.com.
