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 – […]

QUOTE: Since it was Christian doctrine that animals have no souls, there was no Church prohibition against ill-treatment throughout the Middle Ages.