1954 - Washing bodies in Hell
I think I was seven and pestered my mum for stories and kept pestering her about how people died and what happened after death. She made up a nice neat story that haunted me for years. According to her when someone died, God looked at the type of life they had lived.
If they had been kind, helpful and loving people then they were sent to heaven where there was no hunger, no diseases and no ageing. Everything in heaven was pure and beautiful and no one ever felt like sinning.
So what happened to baddies I said?
Oh they will go to hell and have a terrible life.
Like ?? I said.
She said in hell there is a lot of disease and pain and everyone was punished daily for their sins and crimes. All people who went to hell got tortured, eyes gouged, branded with hot steel rods, burnt little by little in an open fire, got picked up by the legs by giants who washed you of all the sins by bashing you against a solid rock face, similar to way Indians wash clothes.
This scared the hell out of me and I cuddled up close to my mum and fell asleep. Then I started dreaming. For whatever reason I was in hell.
The giants were looking for me to bash me against the rock and I kept running away from them and hid. Then suddenly I got caught and they said there will be burning because I ran away.
I was trying to scream as they were trying to brand my rump. I let out a real bad scream and that woke up half the family. I sat up and mom asked me what it was. I told her I dreamt that I was in hell like she had explained.
At that time of the night my grandma gave my mom a big sermon for putting unnecessary fear in my mind. My Grandma said that all that your mum told you was to scare you and make sure that you were a good boy.
After several attempts and a concession to leave the lights on I fell asleep while tightly clutching my mom's saree as she promised to make sure that no one would take me away in my sleep.
This fear haunted me in my dreams for many many years.
I think I was seven and pestered my mum for stories and kept pestering her about how people died and what happened after death. She made up a nice neat story that haunted me for years. According to her when someone died, God looked at the type of life they had lived.
If they had been kind, helpful and loving people then they were sent to heaven where there was no hunger, no diseases and no ageing. Everything in heaven was pure and beautiful and no one ever felt like sinning.
So what happened to baddies I said?
Oh they will go to hell and have a terrible life.
Like ?? I said.
She said in hell there is a lot of disease and pain and everyone was punished daily for their sins and crimes. All people who went to hell got tortured, eyes gouged, branded with hot steel rods, burnt little by little in an open fire, got picked up by the legs by giants who washed you of all the sins by bashing you against a solid rock face, similar to way Indians wash clothes.
This scared the hell out of me and I cuddled up close to my mum and fell asleep. Then I started dreaming. For whatever reason I was in hell.
The giants were looking for me to bash me against the rock and I kept running away from them and hid. Then suddenly I got caught and they said there will be burning because I ran away.
I was trying to scream as they were trying to brand my rump. I let out a real bad scream and that woke up half the family. I sat up and mom asked me what it was. I told her I dreamt that I was in hell like she had explained.
At that time of the night my grandma gave my mom a big sermon for putting unnecessary fear in my mind. My Grandma said that all that your mum told you was to scare you and make sure that you were a good boy.
After several attempts and a concession to leave the lights on I fell asleep while tightly clutching my mom's saree as she promised to make sure that no one would take me away in my sleep.
This fear haunted me in my dreams for many many years.
