Does This Story Have Weight to It?: The Curse of Giles Corey

Intro

Do you believe in curses? A myriad of people do, and other staunch skeptics do not. One peculiar string of coincidences led some to believe otherworldly things played a role. 

The town of Salem, Massachusetts, had an unusual string of deaths with the sheriff's dating back to the post-Salem Witch Trial years. Many sheriffs who held a position in Salem either died or came down with a heart or blood-related ailment. Many theorize it goes back to one particular victim of the trials. Out of all the victims, instead of hanged, they tried to squeeze the truth out of him till he succumbed. People believed it was the curse of Giles Corey. 

Giles's Early Life and Troubles

Giles Corey was baptized in August 1611 in the ceremonial county of Northamptonshire, England. There is no record of his exact arrival date in America, but there is evidence he had been running his farm since the 1640s. 

Before the Salem Witch Trials, he had a few prior run-ins with the law. In 1676, he beat one of his indentured servants, Jacob Gooddale, to death with a stick for stealing apples from Corey's brother-in-law. He succumbed to his injuries 10 days later. John Proctor would be among to testify against Corey. Corey was not found guilty of murder as corporal punishment was allowed on indentured servants with the law at the time, but he was guilty of unreasonable force. This was all over apples. 

Another thing Giles was accused of was setting arson to John Proctor’s home. One of Giles’ sons would confess to the crime. 

Giles was involved in some cases of petty theft. One time, he was sleeping when he was supposed to be on the lookout and had a weapon stolen from him while doing so. 

He had also been married three times. His first two wives died, while his last wife would die as a result of the Salem Witch Trials along with him. 

Salem Witch Trials

I am going to do a long, in-depth analysis of the Salem Witch trials in a future article, but I will do my best to give a short, condensed, cliff notes version of the trial in one paragraph. That way, I can fast-forward to Corey's trials.

In the winter of 1692, nine-year-old Elizabeth Parris, the daughter of Salem’s Reverend Parris, started going into fits, acting like a dog, and speaking in tongues. Soon, other girls, Elizabeth’s cousin, eleven-year-old Abigail Williams, and twelve-year-old Ann Putman Jr., started acting strange and claimed to be seeing witches tormenting them. One by one, they started accusing many residents of their afflictions.  

Martha’s Arrest

In 1692, Martha was arrested on suspicion of witchcraft, with her husband believing she was a witch too. The reason she was accused was she was an outspoken critic of how the trials were handled, did not believe in witches, and even had the gall to call the afflicted girls liars. gasp Unfortunately, the girls then started accusing Martha of being a witch and that her spirit attacked them and witnessed Satan whispering in Martha’s ear. This was all according to Ann Putman Jr.’s testimony. As you see, the girls were telling the truth and not lying. If they did, the jig would be up, and they could face repercussions from their strict Puritan community. 

Martha pleaded not guilty. Unfortunately, her own husband, Giles, believed she was a witch, too. According to him, the animals recently started acting strangely when she got up in the middle of the night to pray. 

Giles Arrest

Later, Hobbs would accuse Giles of being a wizard. When Giles was arrested in April 1692, he started doubting Martha was a witch. Giles refused to plead guilty or not guilty.  

Giles did not plead either way because if he did, the court would seize his property regardless of the answer. He wanted to be sure the property would go to his sons.  

In the court case Mercy Lewis vs. Giles Corey, he was accused of appearing as an apparition tormenting the afflicted by urging them to write a book while beating them. The girls moved every time Giles moved his head, claiming he was hexing them. Giles would call them liars, but unfortunately, the judge sided with the girls. He was sentenced to jail for his alleged witch crimes. When September of that year rolled around, he still refused to plead.

If the judge did not get an answer from him, they were going to press him out of it. 

Piene Forte et Dure

“Peine forte et dure” is a French word for “hard and forceful punishment.” This punishment was used for those who would refuse to plead. Giles would be sentenced to it. 

Sheriff George Corwin would administer the punishment to Giles. The convict was taken to an empty field by the Salem jail and was stripped naked and made to lie on the ground. A board was placed on top of him, and one by one, the Sheriff had stones placed on top of it, crushing Giles. 

When Corwin asked Giles if he pleaded guilty, Gile would utter the infamous line “more weight.” Corwin would then proceed to place more stones atop him. At one point, Gile's tongue stuck out from all the weight pressed against him, and the sheriff pushed the tongue back into his mouth. For several days, Giles was left being crushed to death. 

According to stories, Giles cursed out the sheriff and the town of Salem before demanding more weight. Minutes later, Giles finally succumbed to the prolonged torture and was buried in an unmarked grave on September 19, 1692. He was denied a proper Christian burial. As for estate, since he did not plead, it went to his sons. 

Trial Ending and Post-Trial years.

Martha would be hanged a few days later after her husband’s death on September 22nd, with seven others convicted of witchcraft. She, too, was denied a proper burial. The trials would come to an end in May 1693. Giles' long, drawn-out death made many of the townspeople rethink their actions, as well as others accused of witchcraft.  Many of the citizens were haunted by the evil missteps they had made to the victims, so much so that any death or calamity could be associated with God punishing them.

The Curse and Ghost Sightings 

A few years after the trial ended, the man who was responsible for Gile’s gruesome death suddenly passed away at the age of 30 from a heart attack. 

In 1801, Howard Street Cemetery was built in the same field where Giles was killed with his body in an unmarked grave. Many people started seeing apparitions that looked like Giles Corey. According to legend, he usually roams around the cemetery before a disaster happens. 

It would not be until 1974 that the sheriff of Salem at the time, Robert Ellis Cahill, suffered from a stroke and heart attack. Hearing of Gile’s supposed curse, he further investigated. Going through the records of the previous sheriffs, he could find all of them either died in office or retired due to a heart attack or blood ailment. In 1991, the sheriff's office moved out of Salem, and many believe that was when the curse was supposedly lifted.

Now, Do You Believe In Curses?

Keep in mind that this was info that Cahill could find, so maybe it’s a weird coincidence, or there could be some unworldly explanation. While looking into them, many of them don’t explicitly say that a blood ailment or heart attack was the reason for death or retirement. Regardless if the story is true or not, the legend is a byproduct of a horrible event and possibly acts as a form of guilt for many of the victims who were wronged during the trial.