[k omalley]

I keep hearing from priests and other religious educators that there is a hell but we just don't know if anyone is there. What is with this nonsense? If no one is there then why take the doctrine of hell seriously?

[johnb2004]

I hear you. My understanding is that the Church can only say that fallen angels are in hell for certain. We do not know who else is there. we know canonized saints are in heaven. Everyone else we pray for.

Private revelations often have mentioned hell. In Fatima did not our Lady say she saw souls falling to hell like leaves off a tree?

[american colleen]

I think something is lost sometimes in the nuances of exactly who is in hell. We just don't know the extent of the Lord's mercy, the state of the soul of the person or the repentance they have as they die and we don't have the ability to judge (thank God) exactly who is there.

We hope no one is in Hell, but who knows?

[peter the great]

Eastern Orthodox literature on life after death is very interesting reading. A book that I recommend highly is The Soul After Death by Seraphim Rose. It would answer a lot of your questions. One of the things that Orthodox Christians do yearly is have their homes Blessed by their Priest and trust me I have heard a few wild stories. Occasionally you will hear stories, from houses that were not blessed, about demons showing up in pictures, haunted houses etc what happens next is the priest gets a call comes over and Blesses the house and the problem goes away, Also the book that I recommended, assuming that you are Roman Catholic will have plenty of Saints that you will recognize.