History Main / OffscreenAfterLife

* This is both employed and subverted in Neil Gaiman's ''ComicBook/TheSandman''. Death is constantly meeting people to take them to the afterlife, but we never get to see what the afterlife to which she brings them is like. However, we do see the fate of a great many souls after death, including quite a lot of time spent in Hell, and a memorable visit to the Greco-Roman underworld.

** As of season 5, we've had a look at heaven as well: apparently heaven is different things for each person, overlapping but separate, apart from the Garden at the centre, which everyone perceives differently. It gets explicitly described as "Disneyland, without the anti-semitism" (and, thankfully, from what we've seen, without the [[TastesLikeDiabetes sugary death]])

* In ''Series/DeadLikeMe'', the viewers never get to see what happens to people's souls after they cross over, and it's never really given much detail. They usually just have some kind of happy vision and then vanish. You only see the souls that stick around, either as {{Psychopomp Reapers}} or [[spoiler:Gravelings]].

* In ''Series/DeadLikeMe'', the viewers never get to see what happens to people's souls after they cross over, and it's never really given much detail. They usually just have some kind of happy vision and then vanish. You only see the souls that stick around, either as [[Psychopomp Reapers]] or [[spoiler:as Gravelings]].

* ''Radio/AdventuresInOdyssey'': In "The Mortal Coil," Whit designs an Imagination Station program that is supposed to be a virtual reality experience of death. It accidentally sends Whit into a coma where he ''really'' ends up on the edge, and we are treated to his experience of [[Heaven]], albeit not nearly as wonderful as the real thing, or so he is told by his dead wife and son. Then we get a secondhand account of Eugene (an atheist)'s virtual experience of [[Hell]]: "I've never felt such loneliness or isolation. It was as though I was completely separated from everyone and everything -- completely and thoroughly ''alone''. [[TheNothingAfterDeath Non-existent in a dark void of solitude. I was alone, Connie. Utterly alone in a burning blackness]], and I've had nothing but nightmares since then..." Whit shelves the program permanently after all this.

* ''Radio/AdventuresInOdyssey'': In "The Mortal Coil," Whit designs an Imagination Station program that is supposed to be a virtual reality experience of death. It accidentally sends Whit into a coma where he ''really'' ends up on the edge, and we are treated to his experience of Heaven, albeit not nearly as wonderful as the real thing, or so he is told by his dead wife and son. Then we get a secondhand account of Eugene (an atheist)'s virtual experience of [[TheNothingAfterDeath Hell]]: "I've never felt such loneliness or isolation. It was as though I was completely separated from everyone and everything -- completely and thoroughly ''alone''. Non-existent in a dark void of solitude. I was alone, Connie. Utterly alone in a burning blackness, and I've had nothing but nightmares since then..." Whit shelves the program permanently after all this.

* In ''Series/DeadLikeMe'', the viewers never get to see what happens to people's souls after they cross over, and it's never really given much detail. They usually just have some kind of happy vision and then vanish. You only see the souls that stick around, either as [[{{Psychopomp}} Reapers]] or [[spoiler:as Gravelings]].

* ''Radio/AdventuresInOdyssey'': In "The Mortal Coil," Whit designs an Imagination Station program that is supposed to be a virtual reality experience of death. It accidentally sends Whit into a coma where he ''really'' ends up on the edge, and we are treated to his experience of Heaven, albeit not nearly as wonderful as the real thing, or so he is told by his dead wife and son. But all we get is a secondhand account of Eugene's virtual experience of Hell: "I've never felt such loneliness or isolation. It was as though I was completely separated from everyone and everything -- completely and thoroughly ''alone''. Non-existent in a dark void of solitude. I was alone, Connie. Utterly alone in a burning blackness, and I've had nothing but nightmares since then..." Whit shelves the program permanently after all this.

** Actually, this kind of afterlife is essentially a ThemeParkVersion of a doctrine of the Pure Land Buddhism, which states that whoever dies, even if they're evil, will be taken to ''Sukhavati'' or the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pure_Land_Buddhism#The_Pure_Land "Pure Land"]], home of the ''Amitabha Buddha'' (the kind of Buddha especially venerated in East Asia), from whom they will further learn how to achieve buddhahood. However, if they're evil, there's a chance that they won't be reincarnated as a ''[[RefusingParadise boddhisatva]]'' the next time they reenter the cycle of life, but as a ''preta'' (hungry ghost).
** Also, there seems to be more than one afterlife in the Narutoverse other than the Pure Land. There's the rather hazy concept of the Shinigami/Death God, which isn't mentioned often except as part of a certain suicidal jutsu that ends with your and your enemy's souls becoming ''[[FateWorseThanDeath trapped inside its belly for eternity]]''. The Shinigami's entire existence, however, essentially implies that AllMythsAreTrue in the Narutoverse, since it's a ''very'' alien concept in both Buddhism or Shintoism (Japan's most-followed religions) and is [[HijackedByJesus probably borrowed from the concept of the Angel of Death in Christianity]] (the fact that its earliest mention is sometime in the 15th century, the time when Christianity first reached Japan, supports this theory).

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'''s demons are always waxing poetic about it. "It's a prison. prison made of flesh, and bone, and blood, and fear" and so on.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'''s demons are always waxing poetic about it. "It's a prison... made of pain, and bone, and flesh..." and so on.

** It's been noticed that a lot of people that experienced the classic near-death experience "tropes" actually more or less describe similar things despite their religion, they just label or interpret it differently. E.g. people that report seeing a "benevolent being of light" call it "Allah," or "Muhammad," if they're Muslim, "Jesus," "God,"" or "an angel" if Christian, and "Krishna," if they're Hindu, but they usually describe it in a similar way as if they are all seeing the same thing. There is even one report of a young child calling it "Santa Claus." What this actually means, if anything, is uncertain.

* There have been cases of [=OBEs=] (Out-of-Body Experience) that are still investigated. Some include people at operating tables, and when they come to they talk about other places in the hospital that they could not have known otherwise, and other include times of stress, where the people will claim to remember seeing their bodies below them. Whether or not these are true remains uncertain. Some tests have been done (like putting written messages high up so any out-of-body patient will see them and report back (so otherwise they wouldn't view the words) but failed to verify anything so far. The evidence otherwise is anecdotal.

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* For a series specifically about sending people to {{Hell}}, Anime/HellGirl shows shockingly little of the place itself, with the IronicHell-resembling onscreen punishments only being a prelude to actual damnation.

* This is both employed and subverted in Neil Gaiman's ''ComicBook/TheSandman''. Death is constantly meeting people to take them to the afterlife, but we never get to see what the afterlife she brings them to is like. However, we do see the fate of a great many souls after death, including quite a lot of time spent in Hell, and a memorable visit to the Greco-Roman underworld.
* ''ComicBook/{{Azrael}}'': Apparently, this happened to Jean-Paul Valley after he met his end in the final issue of his comic. His last comment before disapearing from the pages of Creator/DCComics forever were "It looks just like the earth." And he was ''smiling.''

* In ''Film/CheaperByTheDozen'' (the original version), the children, who, living sometime before the 1920s (when secularism in American life became a little more common), are presumably Christians (but given their parents' intellectualism they could well be agnostics), mention nothing about Heaven after their father dies in an accident. One of them outright says in voiceover that he doesn't know where his father is, but suspects he can still see the children somehow.

* In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', Buffy falls into deep despair at being ripped out of Heaven. Angel's time in Hell is so horrific he is driven feral and insane by the time he returns.

** Which is in stark contrast to Mike's earier death, (yes, he did indeed ''die'') where he can't remember anything, although that may be a side-effect of being possessed by the [[SixthRanger Magna Defender]] (yup, in this show the Sixth Ranger actually [[BlackAndGreyMorality stole another person's body]])

* It's not uncommon for people who have had a near-death experience to believe they ventured to Heaven, Hell, or some other version of the afterlife (mostly these reflect cultural views-i.e. Christians see Christian-like heavens, Hindus Hindu-like ones, etc.). Obviously, they were the only people who witnessed their experiences. Many also say they're difficult to put into words. Whether or not they were real visions or hallucinations remains controversial, seeing as neither side is proven nor possibly can ever be proven conclusively correct.

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A show that wants to portray the existence of an afterlife, but wants to avoid something as banal as FluffyCloudHeaven -- or avoid offending atheists or secularists too much -- will often describe the afterlife in purposefully vague terms.

* There have been cases of OBEs (Out-of-Body Experience) that are still investigated. Some include people at operating tables, and when they come to they talk about other places in the hospital that they could not have known otherwise, and other include times of stress, where the people will claim to remember seeing their bodies below them. Whether or not these are true, remains uncertain.

* It's not uncommon for people who have had a near-death experience to believe they ventured to Heaven, Hell, or some other version of the afterlife (mostly these reflect cultural views-i.e. Christians see Christian-like heavens, Hindus Hindu-like ones, etc.). Obviously, they were the only people who witnessed their experiences. Many also say they're difficult to put into words. Whether or not they were real visions or hallucinations remains controversial, seeing as neither side is proven can ever be proven conclusively correct.
** It's been noticed that a lot of people that experienced the classic near-death experience "tropes" actually more or less describe similar things despite their religion, they just label or interpret it differently. E.g. People that report seeing a "benevolent being of light" call it "Allah," or "Muhammad," if they're Muslim, "Jesus," "God,"" or "an angel" if Christian, and "Krishna," if they're Hindu, but they usually describe it in a similar way as if they are all seeing the same thing. There is even one report of a young child calling it "Santa Claus." What this actually means, if anything, is uncertain.

* There have been cases of OBEs (Out-of-Body Experience) that scientists still can't explain. Some of these include people at operating tables, and when they come to they talk about other places in the hospital that they could not have known otherwise, and other include times of stress, where the people will claim to remember seeing their bodies below them. Whether or not these are true, remains uncertain.

A show that wants to portray the existence of an afterlife, but wants to avoid something as banal as FluffyCloudHeaven - or avoid offending atheists or secularists too much - will often describe the afterlife in purposefully vague terms.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* Cheza and the wolves in ''Manga/WolfsRain'' are searching for the entrance to Paradise (Rakuen) on Earth, but none of them knows what it's really like. [[spoiler:And the audience never gets to find out.]]

[[folder:Film]]

---> ''Azrael places his hands over Bethany's eyes. For about 10 seconds, we see some of the most fucked up and disturbing imagery that can be crammed into 240 frames of film.''
* Used, and {{lampshaded}}, in ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'', when the recently resurrected Spock tells [=McCoy=] that he can't describe death, since [=McCoy=] lacks a common frame of reference:
-->'''[=McCoy=]:''' "You mean I have to ''die'' to discuss your insights on ''death''!?"
** This doesn't really make much sense though, considering that [=McCoy=] '''did''' die in Shore Leave, an episode of [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries the original series]].

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In ''WebVideo/VisionOfEscaflowneAbridged,'' the deceased Varie describes heaven as what it would be like "if the best orgasm you ever had could last forever." Main character Hitomi finds this description [[VirginityMakesYouStupid less than helpful.]]
[[/folder]]

** It's been noticed that a lot of people that experienced the classic near death experience "tropes" actually more or less describe similar things despite their religion, they just label or interpret it differently. E.g. People that report seeing a "benevolent being of light" call it "Allah" or "Muhammad" if they're Muslim, "Jesus," "God"," or "an angel" if Christian, and "Krishna" if they're Hindu, but they all describe it in a similar way as if they are all seeing the same thing. There is even one report of a young child calling it "Santa Claus." What this actually means, if anything, is uncertain.
** There has been an atheist who said that they saw a variant of hell, and converted afterwards.

** It's been noticed that a lot of people that experienced the classic near death "tropes" actually more or less describe similar things despite their religion, they just label or interpret it differently. e.g. People that report seeing a "benevolent being of light" call it "Allah" or "Muhammad" if they're Muslim, "Jesus," "God"," or "an angel" if Christian, and "Krishna" if they're Hindu, but they all describe it in a similar way. There is even one report of a young child calling it "Santa Claus." What this actually means, if anything, is uncertain.

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* In Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheDeadZone'', when the protagonist falls into a coma, he ends up in a limbo, which is like a corridor with dark chromed steel walls. He eventually comes out of the corridor and returns to life. At the end, when he dies, he returns to the corridor, not knowing if there's something at the end of it.

* Taken to the extreme in ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'', where afterlife is sort of implied to exist (Mata Nui's soul, for example, started drifting off into it before he recovered), but what it is like is never given any details. The writers have their reasons for this: not wanting to touch on iffy subjects, they purposely avoid talking about it.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' we see the souls of some humans in the SpiritWorld. ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' elaborates that this is what happens when people with very strong connections to the spirits (including [[spoiler:Iroh]] and every previous Avatar) die, and that there are also some humans [[FateWorseThanDeath trapped there forever]]. What afterlife ''everyone else'' gets is not shown or discussed.

* There has been cases of OBEs (Out of Body Experience) that scientists still can't explain. Some of these include people at operating tables, and when they come to they talk about other places in the hospital that they could not have known otherwise, and other include times of stress, where the people will claim to remember seeing their bodies below them. Whether or not these are true, remains uncertain.

* It's not uncommon for people who have had a near-death experience to believe they ventured to Heaven, Hell, or some other version of the afterlife (mostly these reflect cultural views-i.e. Christians see Christian-like heavens, Hindus Hindu-like ones, etc.). Obviously, they were the only people who witnessed their experiences. Many also say they're difficult to put into words. Whether or not they were real visions or hallucinations remains controversial.

* It's not uncommon for people who have had a near-death experience to believe they ventured to Heaven, Hell, or some other version of the afterlife (mostly these reflect cultural views-i.e. Christians see Christian-like heavens, Hindus Hindu-like ones, etc.). Obviously, they were the only people who witnessed their experiences. Many also say they're difficult to put into words. Some experiences of hells have been reported too.

* It's not uncommon for people who have had an out-of-body experience to believe they ventured to Heaven, Hell, or some other version of the afterlife (mostly these reflect cultural views-i.e. Christians see Christian-like heavens, Hindus Hindu-like ones, etc.). Obviously, they were the only people who witnessed their experiences. Many also say they're difficult to put into words.

* The Literature/{{Cosmere}} has the Beyond, where souls get pulled after death after a (usually) brief time in the Cognitive Realm. Even the resident divine beings don't know what lies Beyond and Creator/BrandonSanderson has specifically said he has no plans to reveal anything about it.

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* ''ComicBook/{{Azrael}}'': Apparently, this happened to Jean-Paul Valley after he met his end in the final issue of his comic. His last comment before disapearing from the pages of DCComics forever were "It looks just like the earth." And he was ''smiling.''