Corey, Martha

Corey, Martha (died 1692) victim of witchcraft hysteria; date and place of birth unknown. The wife of Giles Corey of Salem Village (now Danvers) in colonial Massachusetts, she was accused by two emotionally aroused young girls of witchcraft. Refusing to confess, she was hanged (and her husband was crushed to death under a rock); her chief accuser and the trial judge later publicly admitted their error.