Being pressed to death was one of the slowest and most agonizing methods of execution in human history.

For thousands of years, accused criminals were subjected to being pressed or crushed to death, most famously during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Although the specifics varied from culture to culture, the accused was generally tied down with a board laid atop them, followed by weight after weight — and sometimes it would take the victim up to three days to die as their bodies were crushed. Their bones would break, the person would suffocate, and sometimes their cracked ribs and shards of bone would even burst through their skin — all while stunned onlookers watched. In one case of pressing in 1676, the sight was reported to be so horrific that some of the onlookers took pity on the accused as he suffered under 400 pounds of stones — and jumped on top of him to end his suffering. Go inside the horrific history of pressing to death If you were sentenced to death by crushing, or getting pressed to death, you were in for an excruciating end. While strapped down, you would have intense weight placed upon you, bit by bit, until the weight literally crushed you to death One of the earliest examples of the execution method was found over 4,000 years ago in Southeast Asia, where a well-trained elephant would crush a disobedient prisoner. If you were lucky, the elephant would squash you like a bug. If you weren’t, the execution was slow and painful. But whether the weight was applied by a human or a pachyderm, the result was still the same. Pressing To Death Was Practiced In Almost Every Country While there was anecdotal evidence of people being pressed to death in such countries as Persia (modern-day Iraq), Carthage (modern-day Tunisia), and ancient Rome, virtually every country in the world practiced crushing, or getting pressed to death, in some form or another. In Southeast Asia — especially throughout India — crushing was practiced by elephants. The last recorded use of the practice was in 1914. The Carthaginians and ancient Romans used the practice, as well, with the latter remarking that elephants were preferred to lions and bears because they were more “intelligent” and easy to train. But in Britain, the practice was used as torture. Whereas their Southeast Asian and Carthaginian counterparts would use the practice for a convicted criminal, England preferred to impose the sentence on the accused who refused to plead guilty or not guilty. It was the court’s hope that with enough pressure — literally — they would enter a plea. After all, the process could be stopped with a simple cry of “not guilty.” But any refusal to do so would result in continuous weight being applied on the suspect’s chest — to the point that the victims would suffocate, have their bones snap inside their bodies, and even have bone shards pierce the skin. For many, though, surrender was not an option. Death was a preferable alternative to pleading to a crime that he or she didn’t commit. And there was no better example than the lone example of crushing, or getting pressed to death, used in the United States, during the Salem Witch Trials. Giles Corey Is Pressed To Death In 1692, Giles Corey was a successful farmer in the town of Danvers, Massachusetts, about 30 minutes north of Boston. Unfortunately for Mr. Corey, he was swept up in the flurry of accusations made by local women of various bewitchings and specter visitations. Accusations were often made against folks who weren’t well-liked in the community, and Corey — being a convicted criminal after having beaten an apple thief to death — fell into that category. All in all, about 200 people were accused of witchcraft, including Corey himself. A special court was convened to handle the influx of accusations, and Corey went on trial. At that point, he had two options: He could either enter a plea, standing a strong chance of being convicted in the kangaroo court, or not enter a plea at all and refuse to stand trial. Corey also knew that if he chose the latter, the court would order him to be pressed in hope that he would enter a plea. It didn’t matter to Corey — he chose the latter, and decided to stand strong and die with his dignity intact, while also allowing his living relatives to keep his land.

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