To hell in a Handbasket - wikipedia To hell in a Handbasket `` Going to hell in a handbasket '', `` going to hell in a handcart '', `` going to hell in a handbag '', `` go to hell in a bucket '', `` sending something to hell in a handbasket '' and `` something being like hell in a handbasket '' are variations on an American allegorical locution of unclear origin, which describes a situation headed for disaster inescapably or precipitately. New Orleans Mardi Gras day : wagon decorated as mini-float `` Going to Hell in a Handbasket '' with costume - wearing children I. Windslow Ayer 's 1865 polemic alleges, `` Judge Morris of the Circuit Court of Illinois at an August meeting of Order of the Sons of Liberty said : `` Thousands of our best men were prisoners in Camp Douglas, and if once at liberty would ' send abolitionists to hell in a hand basket. ' '' In popular culture Hieronymous Bosch painting `` The Haywain '' ( c. 1515 ) ( in the Prado, Madrid ) illustrates a large cart of hay heading to Hell. The cart is drawn by ' infernal beings that drag everyone to Hell '. The phrase also appeared in the title of several published works and other media : `` To Hell in a Handbasket '' is the name of humorist H. Allen Smith 's 1962 autobiography. Hell in a Handbasket was the title of a 1988 Star Trek comic book. Hell in a Handbasket is the title of a 2006 book ( ISBN 1585424587 ) by American cartoonist Tom Tomorrow, who authors the cartoon strip This Modern World. `` Hell in a handbasket '' was the name of an undescribed con requiring a trained cat referenced in the 2004 film, Ocean 's Twelve. Hell in a Handbasket is a song from Voltaire 's Ooky Spooky album. Hell in a Handbasket is the title of a 2011 Meat Loaf album A number of fictional characters have used a name that puns on the phrase, including : Helena Handbasket is the name of a character in the TV show Friends. It is the stage name for Chandler 's crossdressing dad. Helena Handbasket is also a fictional nymph in the 2011 video game Rayman Origins. Helena Handbasket is also the pseudonym of the author of Twilight 's Last Gleaming : The Decline and Fall of the United States. 2015 video game Fallout 4 in the prequel it includes a `` Vault Tec Representative '' ( Vault Tec is a fictional company in the Fallout franchise ) and refers to the phrase `` Heck in a handbasket '' References Jump up ^ Hendrickson, Robert ( 2000 ). The Facts on File Dictionary of American Regionalisms. Infobase Publishing. p. 77. ISBN 1438129920. Jump up ^ Ayer, I. Windslow, The Great North - Western Conspiracy in All Its Startling Details. Chicago : Rounds and James, 1865. p. 47 retrieved October 30, 2010 Jump up ^ Martin, Gary. `` The meaning and origin of the expression : Going to hell in a handbasket ''. The Phrase Finder. Retrieved October 30, 2010. The first example of ' hell in a hand basket ' that I have found in print comes in I. Winslow Ayer 's account of events of the American Civil War The Great North - Western Conspiracy, 1865. A very similar but slightly fuller report of Morris 's comments was printed in the House Documents of the U.S. Congress, in 1867 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=To_hell_in_a_handbasket&oldid=839204320 '' Categories : English phrases Hell in popular culture Talk About Wikipedia Add links This page was last edited on 1 May 2018, at 23 : 24 ( UTC ). About Wikipedia

Question: what does it mean to go to hell in a handbasket
Answer: a situation headed for disaster inescapably or precipitately