19 Sep 1692: Giles Corey pressed to death

On this day in 1692, Giles Corey, a resident of Salem, Massachusetts, died after enduring “pressing” for refusing to enter a plea to accusations of witchcraft.

Tituba, a slave of West Indian and African origin, was allegedly teaching local girls about the Malleus Maleficarum (“witches’ hammer”), a 15th century German work on witchcraft. Two of the girls, Elizabeth Parris (the daughter of Tituba’s owner) and Abigail Williams, brought accusations against her, setting the town into a mass hysteria.

Giles Corey was one of 20 persons executed; the other 19, including his wife just three days later, were hanged after being convicted. In the history of New England, his was the only known instance of pressing to extract a plea, without which his trial could not proceed.

Over the two days during which more and more stones were placed on the 81-year-old’s body, Corey said only two words: “More weight.”

Corey appears in Arthur Miller‘s play The Crucible, a retelling of the trials.

Image: Corey accused of witchcraft in court.