This is something I wrote some time ago, before I put the dates on my writings, but I would rather refer you to Jesus' Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31. Dreams can take us to make faulty conclusions... Also, my understanding of the Bible regarding Judgment is the first, immediately after we die, to Abraham's bosom or to Sheol a waiting room. The second Judgment is of the whole Earth with all the signs of the end which Jesus talks about in Matthew 24:3-31. The Final Judgment is final as described in Revelation 20:10. Reference: https://biblehub.com/revelation/20-10.htm

I'm pretty sure I wrote in other essays about the errors created by folktales, fear, and dark superstitions about "hell," but I could not immediately find any...

I disagree with the folklore which developed around the word "hell." In the Bible, the original word is "sheol," and I assume "hell" is a slurred corruption of it. Below is the mindset as it has come down to us:

"In religion and folklore, Hell is an afterlife location in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, often torture, as eternal punishment after death." (Wikipedia)

Yes. It is a place. Yes. We have eternal souls, spiritual personages that have to go somewhere. It may well be a dry and drab place, but it's not for suffering and punitive torture. It's not a permanent condition either but more like a waiting room. I think over the ages it has been mixed into the Bible's warning of the Final Judgment and the Lake of Fire, where, I believe, the eternal souls can be eternally destroyed and to coin a phrase, "be put out of their misery." This outlook has been developing over my decades of Bible study and guidance from above...