History Main / ThisIsntHeaven

* This is actually a point in the Doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly and improperly known as Mormons). In the afterlife, spirits are sorted into three kingdoms, each divine in their own right, but only the highest Celestial kingdom has the full light and presence of God. Those left in the lowest Telestial kingdom (the equivalent of Purgatory) are essentially left without much other than the afterlife itself, so despite the divine ''appearance'' of the kingdom, it doesn't take long to realize that something will just feel off. Forever. Mormon 9:3–5 explains the reasoning of it in that the guilt of one's unrepented sins would make it more of a Hell to dwell with God than without Him.

** Also inverted and invoked, and also in season 4: [[spoiler:The actual Good Place was originally so monotonously "nice" that everyone involved, even the people running it, hated it, while the so-called "Good Place" and the experiences therein were good for everyone involved, even the Bad Place demons.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'', the Hunter's Dream is a peaceful, quiet, serene, and cozy little house surrounded by flower-lined paths winding between undisturbed graves. It's tended to by [[CoolOldGuy Gehrman]], who teaches new [[HunterOfMonsters Hunters]] the ropes, and [[ArtificialHuman the Plain Doll]], who lives to serve and help you and who offers you nothing but solace, support, and kind words. In the grim, dark and horrifying world of ''Bloodborne'', surely this must be a slice of heaven... except, by now, the Hunter's Dream is actually [[spoiler: Gehrman's own IronicHell: As part of his [[DealWithTheDevil agreement with]] [[EldritchAbomination the Moon Presence]], he's stuck doing what he used to love the most: mentoring new Hunters, in the place he used to love the most: his Old Workshop, [[WhoWantsToLiveForever for the rest of eternity]], and it's heavily implied that he has already gone through ''hundreds'' of iterations of [[TheNightThatNeverEnds the Night of the Hunt]] by the time the game starts... Also, since he has to eventually MercyKill every single Hunter that finds their way to the Dream, lest they either GoMadFromTheRevelation or be forced to [[SelfSacrificeScheme replace him as the Dream's host]], the only permanent company Gehrman has is a doll in the spitting likeness of the love of his life, Maria... which probably wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for the fact that the Doll, though she [[ReplacementGoldfish looks like Maria, and sounds like Maria,]] [[ExtremeDoormat is nothing like]] [[ActionGirl Maria]], meaning she only serves as a constant reminder of Gehman's [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]], as well as the sins of his past... The fact that Gehrman's favorite place in the Hunter's Dream appears to be an alcove in the garden that lets him sit with his back turned to the entire Dream gives off the impression that he's grown to utterly loathe everything about it. You can even hear him pathetically crying, begging for someone, anyone, to release him from the dream.]]

-->-- ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'', "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E28ANicePlaceToVisit A Nice Place to Visit]]"

* ''Series/{{The Twilight Zone|1959}}'':
** "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E84TheHunt The Hunt]]" [[PlayingWithATrope plays with]] this trope. A recently dead hunter is walking a long road and comes across the path to Heaven when a "gatekeeper" tells him that his dog can't go in with him. After some debating and considering things, the hunter chooses to continue down the road with his canine companion rather than enter Heaven. Soon afterwards, an angel tells him that the gatekeeper was trying to trick him into Hell, which is why the dog wasn't allowed in: "A man, well, he'll walk right into Hell with both eyes open. But even the Devil can't fool a dog!" The hunter and his dog enter the real Heaven together.
** "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E28ANicePlaceToVisit A Nice Place To Visit]]" plays with this again. A low level criminal named Rocky is killed by police soon after robbing a jewelry store. He is greeted by an affable guide named Pip who takes him to a lavish hotel room and offers him his heart's desires, from nice clothing, to booze, to women. Seeing all the niceties and good things, Rocky realizes this must be Heaven, but is confused as he doesn't remember doing anything of great good to merit being there. After a month, the good times have gotten boring. He always wins at roulette, always hits jackpot on the slots, one shot on a pool table and he sinks all the balls, he can rob a bank and not get caught; even the easy women now bore him, to his surprise. Rocky is really beyond bored and nearly driven insane by how good things are for him. [[spoiler:It turns out, though, this is an IronicHell constructed for a man of greed and pride to now receive [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor all he can ever hope for and more]] with [[NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction none of the satisfaction of taking it]]]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'''s ShowWithinAShow, ''The Scary Door'', parodies the ''Twilight Zone'' episode above. A man is hit by a car and wakes up in a casino sitting in front of a slot machine. He hits the jackpot and says that a casino where he's actually winning must mean he's in Heaven. Then he hits a second jackpot and says that [[NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction a casino where he]] ''[[NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction always]]'' [[NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction wins is boring]], so he must really be in Hell. [[spoiler:But he's actually in a plane. [[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E123NightmareAt20000Feet And there's a goblin on the wing!]] But nobody will believe him because he's UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler! And Eva Braun is actually a giant fly!]]