Question: where does the term hell in a handbasket come from

title: To hell in a handbasket
text: `` 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 ''