Need to know.
The State of the Dead

According to the Bible, death is like a deep, unconscious sleep. When a person dies, they are not aware of anything. The Bible says, “the dead know not any thing” (Ecclesiastes 9:5). Jesus also compared death to sleep (John 11:11–14).
Therefore, the dead are not consciously living in heaven, hell, or anywhere else immediately after death. They remain unconscious in the grave, waiting for the resurrection at Christ’s return.
This truth protects us from spiritualism and deception. If the dead are unconscious, then any supposed “spirit of a dead person” that appears to the living cannot truly be that person. Satan and evil spirits can use such appearances to deceive people.