The notion that the spirit is trapped, unconscious, in the decaying body after death is just icky, to say the least.
Then there were the Frankenstein/Dracula movies of those days, where the only ones who came back from that state of soul sleep were completely evil and terrifying.
All references to heaven were of the sitting on a cloud playing a harp variety.
That aspect of the popular culture was sure trying hard to make death a very frightening thing for children and heaven a very uninteresting and boring place.
The Truth of Christ is liberating.