Why is martha corey accused of witchcraft

It is suspected that the father of Benjamin was a Native American. She raised Benjamin separately for 10 years away from her husband and her first son, Thomas Rich. Martha and Giles often argued, though, and it was widely known by the Salem community. By , Martha and Giles Corey were both members of the church. During the Trials:.

Due to her previous transgressions in the community, Martha Corey was also accused of witchcraft by the young girls. When questioned by a delegation on the accusations, she responded in a sarcastic and dismissive attitude due to her disbelief of witches , therefore allowing the community to believe the charges against her.

She was arrested and was soon medically examined. After coming to the conclusion that she was possessed through witchcraft she was put to trial. While being examined, Martha bit her lower lip, suddenly the girls were compelled to do the same or when she moved her wrist one way they would twist it the other way. I am a Gospel-Woman. Although Martha stood her ground in her defense, the evidence against her was overwhelming and she was also found guilty by the court of Salem.

On February 14th, , 11 years after Martha Corey was accused of being a witch and hung, the church of Salem Village had a meeting to decide whether or not restore her rights to be a member of the church. Most members of the church were for restoring her rights and although there were some who opposed the decision, Martha Corey was granted her full rights as a member of the church. YouTube, 18 Feb.

Lewis, Jone Johnson. About the Authors. Behavioral Analysis. She was convinced that the girls who were accusing people of witchcraft were lying and that most likely lit the fire under her leading to her accusation.

The likelihood of Martha partaking in witchcraft are slim to none, there is no reason that she would risk drawing more attention to herself due to the fact that many were aware of her past indiscretions with lust. Martha cheated on her previous husband Henry Rich whom she had a child with named Thomas Rich, she gave birth to a mixed race child name Benjamin or Benoni for short, whose father was either Native American or African American.

But my wife bid me knock her in the head. But I did not and since she is well. Another time going to duties I was interrupted for a space but afterward I was helped according to my poor measure. My wife hath been wont to sit up after I went to bed and I have perceived her to kneel down to the harth.

From his actions, it appeared that Giles Corey, who was reportedly swept up in the mass hysteria, actually believed the accusations against his wife. Peter Street, to await trial. Although Martha Corey was arrested in March, the court seemed to be delaying her trial.

In the meantime, a handful of people provided testimony against Martha Corey in April and May. Then, when her case went to trial in September, a summons for more witnesses was called and more witnesses testified.

With which she did ask made us to think of what Ann Putnam had told us before we went to her. We had a great deal of talk with her about the complaint that was of her and how greatly the name of God and religion and the church was dishonored by this means but she seemed to be no way concerned for any thing about it but only to stop the mouths of people that they might not say thus of her.

She told us that she did not think that they were accused for she said if they were we could not blame the devil for making witches of them for they were idle slothfull persons and minded nothing that was good.

But we had no reason to think so of her for she had made a profession of Christ and rejoiced to go and hear the word of god and the like. But we told her it was not her making an outward profession that would clear her from being a witch for it had often been so in the world that witches had crept into the churches. Much more discourse we had with her but she made her profession a cloak to cover all she further told us that the devil was come down amongst us in great rage and that God had forsaken the earth.

And after much discourse with her being to much here to be related we returned to the house of the above said Thomas Putnam..

After hearing all of the testimonies and weighing the evidence, Martha Corey was found guilty on September 8, and sentenced to death. Parris visited Corey in jail to tell her about the excommunication in person and described the meeting in the Salem Village church book:. Lords day Sister Martha Corey, taken into the church 27 April , was after examination upon suspicion of witchcraft, 21 March. Accordingly this The 3. About a week later, on September 19, Giles Corey was tortured to death, in a field near the Salem jail, for refusing to enter a plea during his trial.

Photo Credit: Rebecca Brooks. Before being hanged, Corey prayed one last time, according to Robert Calef, who personally witnessed the Salem Witch Trials hangings and wrote about it in his book More Wonders of the Invisible World:. Martha Corey, wife to Giles Corey, protesting her innocency, concluded her life with an eminent prayer upon the ladder.

These were the last hangings of the Salem Witch Trials. Shortly after, the court banned spectral evidence , making most of the witchcraft accusations baseless, and the trials began to die down until they officially came to and end when the last prisoners were released in May of Almost immediately after the trials, the residents of Salem began to feel guilty about what occurred and tried to correct their mistakes anyway they could. On January 15, , the colony held a day of prayer and fasting, known as the Day of Official Humiliation, in honor of the witch trial victims.

The colony had been suffering from natural disasters since the trials ended and, fearing they had angered God by putting innocent people to death, hoped the day of prayer would be please him. The record in the church-book states:. By the time of the trials, Giles Corey was already 80, and was married to Martha, his third wife.

On March 19, , Martha was arrested for witchcraft. Giles, for reasons unknown to others, decided to testify against his wife, but eventually tried to recant his deposition, which lead to greater suspicion of his involvement in witchcraft because of the stigma surrounding perjury.

One month later, on April 19, , Giles Corey was accused of witchcraft and there was a warrant out for his arrest. There were two primary accusations, one from Abigail Hobbs who during her own confession to witchcraft named Giles and Martha Corey as fellow witches, and one from Exekiell Chevers and John Putnam, Jr. After his arrest, Giles Corey remained in jail with his wife until his trial on September 16, He went to the trial and pleaded "not guilty" but simultaneously refused to "put himself on the court" because of his contempt for the court.

Corey was not willing to submit himself to a trial by jury that, he believed, had already determined his guilt. Because the court had accepted the testimony of the same accusers in a trial on September 9, and in all previous trials, Giles understood that there was no chance of being found not guilty and that a conviction would be inevitable. In every previous trial when an accused individual had plead not guilty, not a single person was cleared so Giles preferred to undergo "what Death they would put him to" rather than be found guilty of witchcraft and thus put to death.

According to English law, Giles was ruled as "standing mute" because he would not be tried by "God and my country. Because Giles stood mute, he was given the dreaded sentence of peine forte et dure even though this procedure had been determined to be illegal by the government of Massachusetts.

It was illegal for two reasons: there was no law permitting pressing, and it violated the Puritan provisions of the Body of Liberties regarding the end of barbarous punishment. On the 11 th , she was excommunicated from her church. The court decided to use an old legal procedure called peine forte et dure , French for hard and forceful punishment, to deal with the mute Giles Corey.

This form of torture involved a suspect being placed on the ground, with more and more stones placed upon the chest, to force the victim to speak. Despite two days during which his friend Thomas Gardner tried to convince him to let the trial move forward, Giles did not relent. Giles Corey was excommunicated from his church on September The next day, he was taken from jail, laid down in a field near the prison, and stones were piled on him.

It is unknown what happened to her remains. This was the last execution day of the Salem Witchcraft Trials. The Court of Oyer and Terminer was dissolved in October, and those convicted of witchcraft by a new court the following year were granted reprieves by Governor William Phips.

Both Giles and Martha Corey had their names cleared of witchcraft accusations by a Reversal of Attainder granted by the Massachusetts legislature. Giles Corey Memorial Stone.

Martha Corey Memorial Stone. Peabody Witch Trials Legacy Trail.