Giles Corey Pressed to Death (1692): Churches and Torture It was on this date, September 19, 1692, during the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts colony, that sentence was carried out on Giles Corey (or Choree or Cory) that he be pressed to death for witchcraft. Corey was a prosperous farmer and 80 years old – […]

Judge (Rev.) Samuel Sewall, who had presided at many trials in Salem, expressed a real fear of divine retribution, but the victims of the Salem Witch Trials would have been better off with less Jesus and more justice.