The Horrific Final Days of Giles Corey скачать в хорошем качестве

The Horrific Final Days of Giles Corey

Sheriff George Corwin added another stone to the pile. Forty pounds of rock. Then sixty. Then eighty. The pile kept growing. The old man beneath them—eighty years old, stripped naked, a wooden board crushing his chest—was asked again to enter his plea. His answer? "More weight." Those two words would become the most famous last words in early American history. But what makes them extraordinary isn't the defiance. It's that Giles Corey knew exactly what refusing to speak would cost him—and he calculated that two days of being slowly crushed to death was worth it. This wasn't a man breaking under torture. This was a man using torture as a weapon against his torturers. ⚖️ THE COURT: The Court of Oyer and Terminer had a perfect conviction rate. One hundred percent. Every single person who pleaded not guilty had been found guilty. Every one. The court allowed "spectral evidence"—if someone testified that your invisible spirit had appeared to them in a dream, that testimony could convict you. How do you prove that your invisible spirit didn't visit someone? You can't. The evidence was, by definition, impossible to refute. And the system rewarded confession. Admit to witchcraft and live. Maintain your innocence and die. Giles Corey understood something that would take the rest of Salem months to figure out: this court wasn't interested in justice. It was a machine designed to produce convictions. 🪨 THE LOOPHOLE: Under English common law, a defendant convicted of a felony would forfeit all property to the Crown. Everything. Land, money, possessions. But if Corey never entered a plea, he technically never became a defendant. The trial couldn't proceed. And if he died without ever being convicted, his property would pass to his heirs exactly as he'd planned. By refusing to plead, Giles Corey was saying something profound: I will not grant this court the authority of my consent. I will not participate in this farce. I will not legitimize your process by going through the motions of a trial whose outcome is already decided. ⚰️ THE PRESSING: The procedure was called peine forte et dure—"hard and forceful punishment." The prisoner would be stripped naked, laid flat, a wooden board placed across their chest. Then, stone by stone, weight would be added until they agreed to plead—or died. Giles Corey's pressing was the only use of this torture in the history of the American colonies. Before or since. For two days, they added weight and demanded he speak. For two days, Giles Corey refused. At some point, the weight became so great that his tongue was forced out of his mouth. Sheriff Corwin used his cane to push it back in. After two days, the magistrates made their final demand. Three times, they asked Giles Corey to enter his plea. "More weight." 📚 WHAT YOU'LL DISCOVER: ✓ The 100% conviction rate and how the court achieved it ✓ Why spectral evidence made every trial a foregone conclusion ✓ The legal loophole Corey exploited by refusing to plead ✓ The Jacob Goodale murder seventeen years earlier ✓ Why he testified against his own wife—then tried to recant ✓ The two-day pressing in an open field ✓ Sheriff Corwin pushing his tongue back in with a cane ✓ "More weight"—the most famous last words in early American history ✓ How his death helped bring the trials to a crashing halt ✓ The curse legend and what happened to Sheriff Corwin 📖 About This Video: This documentary examines the death of Giles Corey during the Salem witch trials of 1692—the only person in American colonial history to be executed by peine forte et dure, the medieval torture of pressing to death with heavy stones. The video explores how the Court of Oyer and Terminer achieved a 100% conviction rate through the use of spectral evidence—testimony about invisible spirits and dreams that was impossible to refute. It examines Giles Corey's calculated decision to stand mute and refuse to enter a plea, exploiting a legal loophole that would protect his property from forfeiture and prevent his family from losing their inheritance. We analyze the two-day pressing that took place in an open field beside the Salem jail, where an eighty-year-old farmer was slowly crushed under hundreds of pounds of stone while demanding "more weight" rather than submit to a court he recognized as corrupt. The video documents eyewitness accounts from Robert Calef and Judge Samuel Sewall. The documentary examines how Corey's death contributed to the collapse of the trials, the dissolution of the Court of Oyer and Terminer, and the eventual prohibition of spectral evidence. It also explores the lasting cultural impact of Corey's story, including Arthur Miller's portrayal in "The Crucible" and the legend of Corey's curse on Salem's sheriffs. #SalemWitchTrials #GilesCorey #1692 #AmericanHistory #Salem #ColonialAmerica #WitchTrials #MoreWeight #TheCrucible #MassachusettsHistory