Reports
from three people who have seen hell . . .
“All Was Thick Darkness”: St. Teresa of Avila
“The entrance seemed to be by a long narrow pass, like a
furnace, very low, dark, and close. The ground seemed to be saturated with
water, mere mud, exceedingly foul, sending forth pestilential odors, and
covered with loathsome vermin. At the end was a hollow place in the wall, like
a closet, and in that I saw myself confined. All this was even pleasant to
behold in comparison with what I felt there. There is no exaggeration in what I
am saying. [...]
“I felt a fire in my soul. I cannot see how it is possible to describe it. My bodily sufferings were unendurable. I have undergone most painful sufferings in this life… yet all these were as nothing in comparison with what I felt then, especially when I saw that there would be no intermission, nor any end to them. [...]
“Left in that pestilential place, and utterly without the power to hope for comfort, I could neither sit nor lie down: there was no room. I was placed as it were in a hole in the wall; and those walls, terrible to look on of themselves, hemmed me in on every side. I could not breathe. There was no light, but all was thick darkness. [...]
“Afterwards I had another most fearful vision, in which I saw the punishment of certain sins. They were most horrible to look at… [...] I have read of the diverse tortures, and how the devils tear the flesh with red-hot pincers. But all is as nothing before this; it is a wholly different matter. In short, the one is a reality, the other a picture; and all burning here in this life is as nothing in comparison with the fire that is there. I was so terrified by that vision,--and that terror is on me even now while I am writing,--that though it took place nearly six years ago, the natural warmth of my body is chilled by fear even now when I think of it. [...]
“I felt a fire in my soul. I cannot see how it is possible to describe it. My bodily sufferings were unendurable. I have undergone most painful sufferings in this life… yet all these were as nothing in comparison with what I felt then, especially when I saw that there would be no intermission, nor any end to them. [...]
“Left in that pestilential place, and utterly without the power to hope for comfort, I could neither sit nor lie down: there was no room. I was placed as it were in a hole in the wall; and those walls, terrible to look on of themselves, hemmed me in on every side. I could not breathe. There was no light, but all was thick darkness. [...]
“Afterwards I had another most fearful vision, in which I saw the punishment of certain sins. They were most horrible to look at… [...] I have read of the diverse tortures, and how the devils tear the flesh with red-hot pincers. But all is as nothing before this; it is a wholly different matter. In short, the one is a reality, the other a picture; and all burning here in this life is as nothing in comparison with the fire that is there. I was so terrified by that vision,--and that terror is on me even now while I am writing,--that though it took place nearly six years ago, the natural warmth of my body is chilled by fear even now when I think of it. [...]
“Caverns and Pits of Torture”: St. Maria
Faustyna Kowalska
“Today I was led by an Angel to the chasms of hell. It is a
place of great torture; how awesomely large and extensive it is! The kinds of
tortures I saw: the first torture that constitutes hell is the loss of God; the
second is perpetual remorse of conscience; the third is that one’s condition
will never change; the fourth is the fire that will penetrate the soul without
destroying it - a terrible suffering, since it is a purely spiritual fire, lit
by God’s anger; the fifth torture is continual darkness and a terrible
suffocating smell, and, despite the darkness, the devils and the souls of the
damned see each other and all the evil, both of others and their own; the sixth
torture is the constant company of Satan; the seventh torture is horrible
despair, hatred of God, vile words, curses and blasphemies.
“These are the tortures suffered by all the damned together, but that is not the end of their sufferings. There are special tortures destined for particular souls. These are the torments of the senses. Each soul undergoes terrible and indescribable sufferings, related to the manner in which it has sinned. There are caverns and pits of torture where one form of agony differs from another. I would have died at the very sight of these tortures if the omnipotence of God had not supported me. Let the sinner know that he will be tortured throughout all eternity, in those senses which he made use of to sin. I am writing this at the command of God, so that no soul may find an excuse by saying there is no hell, or that nobody has ever been there, and so no one can say what it is like.”
“These are the tortures suffered by all the damned together, but that is not the end of their sufferings. There are special tortures destined for particular souls. These are the torments of the senses. Each soul undergoes terrible and indescribable sufferings, related to the manner in which it has sinned. There are caverns and pits of torture where one form of agony differs from another. I would have died at the very sight of these tortures if the omnipotence of God had not supported me. Let the sinner know that he will be tortured throughout all eternity, in those senses which he made use of to sin. I am writing this at the command of God, so that no soul may find an excuse by saying there is no hell, or that nobody has ever been there, and so no one can say what it is like.”
“A Vast Sea of Fire”: Sister Lucy of Fatima
“The
rays [of light] appeared to penetrate the earth, and we saw, as it were, a vast
sea of fire. Plunged in this fire, we saw the demons and the souls [of the
damned].
The latter were like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, having human forms. They were floating about in that conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames which issued from within themselves, together with great clouds of smoke. Now they fell back on every side like sparks in huge fires, without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fright (it must have been this sight which caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me).
The demons were distinguished [from the souls of the damned] by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals.”
The latter were like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, having human forms. They were floating about in that conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames which issued from within themselves, together with great clouds of smoke. Now they fell back on every side like sparks in huge fires, without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fright (it must have been this sight which caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me).
The demons were distinguished [from the souls of the damned] by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals.”
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