From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
This article may not meet the general notability guideline or one of the following specific guidelines for inclusion on Wikipedia: Biographies, Books, Companies, Fiction, Music, Neologisms, Numbers, Web content, or several proposals for new guidelines. If you are familiar with the subject matter, please expand or rewrite the article to establish its notability. The best way to address this concern is to reference published, third-party sources about the subject. If notability cannot be established, the article is more likely to be considered for redirection, merge or ultimately deletion, per Wikipedia:Guide to deletion.
This article has been tagged since December 2007.
Going to Hell in a handbasket is an expression of unclear origin describing something or a situation taking a turn for the worse or towards disaster without effort or in great haste.

There are similar phrases going back over 400 years, such as to “Heaven in a wheelbarrow”. There has been some speculation that the phrases may be related, with “to Hell in a handbasket” perhaps being a mocking reference to the Guillotine which often used a lined basket to catch the severed head.

It appeared in published works since the 1940s.

“Hell in a Handbasket” was the title of a 1998 Star Trek comic book.

Hell in a Handbasket is the title of a 2006 book (ISBN 1585424587) by American counterculture cartoonist Tom Tomorrow, who authors a nationally syndicated 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.