Going to Hell in a handbasket

Disscussion among me and my cronies has lead to the question. Where did the phrase come from? First off "No comment from the Peanut gallery" A peanut gallery is an audience that heckles the performer. The term originated in the days of vaudeville as a nickname for the cheapest (and ostensibly rowdiest) seats in the theater; the cheapest snack served at the theater would often be peanuts, which the patrons would sometimes throw at the performers on stage to show their disapproval. The phrases "no comments from the peanut gallery" or "quiet in the peanut gallery" are extensions of the name. Next: 'Going to hell in a handbasket' is to be deteriorating - on a course for disaster. Origin The transit to hell is conjured up in various terms that use the imagery of swiftness; for example 'hellbent' and 'hell for leather'. There are one or two theories as to why 'handbasket' was chosen as the preferred vehicle to be conveyed to hell. Handbaskets are, of course, baskets that are carried by hand. Items put in a handbasket are moved without resistance and it could be that the imagery of someone being taken off directly and without choice was in the mind of whoever coined the phrase. Another theory is that it derives from the use of the guillotine and the imagery of decipitated heads being caught in baskets, the casualty presumably going straight to hell, without passing Go. The first use of an alliterative 'in a handbasket' phrase does in fact relate to head rather than hell. 'Going to hell in a handbasket' seems to be just a colourful version of 'going to hell', in the same sense as 'going to the dogs'. The 'in a handbasket' is an alliterative intensifier which gives it a catchy ring. There doesn't appear to be any particular significance to 'handbasket' apart from the alliteration. That view is backed-up by the existence of similar earlier phrases, which, not having the same catchiness, have now disappeared - for example, 'hell in a basket' and 'hell in a wheelbarrow'. Given the perfectly serviceable phrase 'hell in a handcart', the reason why the handbasket version arose isn't clear. There may be a connection between 'going to hell in a handbasket' and 'basket-case', but that's just speculation. "Not every small town girl, casting her lot in the theatrical world of Broadway, scoots to hell in a handbasket." http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/hell-in-a-handbasket.html "Going to hell in a handbasket"