Martha Corey and her husband Giles Corey would both be victims of the Salem witch trials. While Martha Corey would be hanged for being a witch, her husband’s death was all together different. Giles Cory’s execution was not for being found guilty but for refusing to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty.
Martha Corey is set apart from most of the others who were accused of being witches, because unlike most of them she was a respected member of society. She was up until her death a member of the Village church.
History shows Giles Corey as a prosperous man in his early life. He is also shown as lacking any consideration for other people. Giles Corey was taken to court before on accusations of beating Jacob Goodell, a boy who worked for him.
Martha Corey was examined on charges of witchcraft in March of 1692. Several people would come to court to testify against her as a witch. The outcome of her trial would not be a good one as on September 10, 1962 she would be convicted of witchcraft.
On April 19th Giles Corey would like his wife had a month prior, be examined on the charge of witchcraft. When asked to make his plea, he stood mute and for that he suffered the consequences. In those times people who refused to take a plea would have weights placed upon their chest. These weights would continue to be placed until the person either gave a plea or was crushed to death. In Giles Corey’s case he was crushed to death at the age of eighty years old on September 19, 1692.
Elizabeth Booth testified against both Giles and Martha Corey. She had testified that Giles had appeared before her at the widow Shaflin’s house and had tried to get them to eat bread and drink wine that he had brought. She testified that when they refused he had afflicted them and tormented them. She went on to state that she believed him to be a wizard and that he afflicted them and several others using witchcraft.
It is hard to decipher from the court records what Elizabeth Booth is testifying that Martha Corey had done. From what I can decipher she is speaking about a man named George Nedom appearing to her and claiming that Martha Corey killed him because he would not repair something for her. She goes on to speak of other things but from her spelling and the way they spoke back them it is hard to decipher.
Giles Corey himself would testify against his wife. In his testimony he would speak of ill animals that acted strangely but would get better. He would also testify against her saying that on one evening when they were sitting up that Martha Corey told him to go to bed, he said no but that he would go to pray. His testimony would go on to say that when he went to pray he could not mutter anything that made sense. As a last bit of testimony against his wife he would tell the courts that she would sit up long after he went to bed, and he had seen her kneel by the hearth as if to pray, but had heard nothing.
On September 22, 1692 Martha Corey was hanged on Gallows Hill along with four other Salem Witch Trial victims. It would take until 1954 for Martha Corey’s name to be officially cleared and for her to be absolved of her crimes.
