The study of near-death experiences (NDE) represents a growing area of clinical and psychological research, which has also attracted increasing attention from Religious Studies and Theology. Nevertheless, NDE and their study are highly controversial: seen by some as an expression of a lush, individualistic postmodern spirituality, others regard NDE as a robust indicator of the possibility of life after death. In general, however, research into NDE phenomena has often focused on its positive forms, while neglecting the occurrence of distressing or even "hellish" variants. This paper will explore the transformation of hell from the perspective of NDEs: do distressing NDEs transform contemporary eschatological imaginations as much as their more joyful counterparts? Can cross-cultural comparisons of contemporary hellish NDEs and related phenomena, such as reports of afterlife journeys, shed new light on the emergence of eschatological beliefs?