Throughout History there have been many terrible executions that occurred, and some of the methods
used were brutal and barbaric. Hanged, drawn and quartered was one execution method which had a
number of stages, but it would be horrific for the thousands of people to go and visit.
But another execution method used in London against pirates was gibbetting, in which pirates
who were found on the River Thames were hanged in public and were then left suspended in an iron
cage, where the birds would pick at them. It would be a gruelling death, in which someone would be
left to die from exposure, third and starvation. Gibbetting was a terrifying execution method that
was known also as hanging in chains, but there was a woman from Canada who was subjected to being
gibbetted and she was one of only a few women in documented history who were executed in this way.
Join us today as we look at the execution of the gibbetted Canadian woman, and as
always to support our channel please make sure to subscribe.
Marie Josephte Corriveau was born in 1733 and was baptised when she was around 5 months old.
She was raised in the rural area of Saint Vallier in New France,
and she was the only surviving child of her father who was a farmer and her mother,
as all of her ten brothers and sisters died during childhood. But at the age of 16,
Corriveau married on the 17th November 1749 to a man named Charles Bouchard who was also a farmer.
They had three children, two daughters and then a son. However there were rumours that emerged
at the time that Marie murdered her husband, but there’s no certain record of his death.
Charles Bouchard died on the 27th April 1760 after 10 years of marriage to Marie, but she
would then marry 15 months later another farmer from Saint-Vallier. Her second husband was Louis
Etienne Dodier, however within 18 months of this marriage, Marie’s second husband was found dead
inside of his barn. His body was in a state, and he had suffered from many different head wounds.
An official recording of the cause of death noted that he was killed from the kicks of
horses hooves, however he was then buried rather quickly and because of this rumours
emerged regarding the fact that Louis Dodier was murdered and many then turned to either his wife,
Marie or his father in law. It was known that Dodier did not get on well with his father in law,
but he may have been also experiencing marriage problems. But the region of New France where this
happened had been conquered by the British previously in 1760 during the 7 Years War,
and the British Army oversaw the region and law enforcement there. When they heard the rumours,
the British ordered an inquiry which opened on the 29th March 1763, and Joseph Corriveau and his
daughter Marie were brought in front of a military tribunal and 12 English officers and a British
leftenant colonel oversaw the proceedings. Many locals gave evidence and testified against Marie,
and the case ended with Marie’s father being sentenced to death for murdering his son in law.
But Marie was also regarded as an accomplice and because of this she was then sentenced to receive
60 lashes of a whip, and to be branded with the letter M for Murder on her hand. Marie’s
father was was condemned to die by hanging, and he said that he was just an accomplice as it was his
daughter Marie who had murdered Dodier her second husband. At a second trial, Marie admitted that
whilst he slept, she struck her husband with an axe twice because he treated her awfully.
The trial then changed her sentence and she was sentenced to death, and was found guilty with the
court specifically ordering Marie to be hanged in chains, or put on public display in a gibbet.
Gibbetting was a common law punishment which could be used alongside execution, and it was
a normal punishment for Murder back in England. Often traitors, highwaymen, murderers and pirates
were sentenced to death in this way to discourage others from committing actions such as these.
It was a brutal form of justice, and people would often see people literally rotting
away after being suspended on a gibbet for some time.
But this is what would happen for Marie Corriveau, as she was taken to Quebec on the 18th April 1763.
She was just 30, and she was taken to the place of her execution where she was placed in chains
at a crossroads so that many people would see her. She was hanged in front of a huge crowd in
the chains and she succumbed to her death, and she was then left in chains for over a month.
Her body was left in the iron gibbet and was exposed to the elements where it began to decay
and began to be rot away high up in the air. The locals who lived near to the gibbet where the
30 year old woman was decaying complained because of the sight and also the smell,
and the military commander of Quebec then ordered the body to be taken down and buried.
What is interesting is that Marie was not freed from her cage, and she was actually buried in
the cage in the cemetery of the church nearby. But in 1851 around 90 years after her execution,
someone dug up the iron gibbet and the cage and it was placed in the cellar of the church,
but then it was bought by PT Barnum and was displayed as an object in his show.
The story of Marie-Josephte Corriveau and her execution is one that has gone down in history
as a legend in Canada, and her ordeal is one that is often linked to witchcraft,
and some alleged that she had more victims. But she is remembered in history as a woman who was
gibbeted in front of a huge crowd, and she is one of very few women to be executed in this way.
Thanks for watching
To support please make sure to subscribe
Thanks for watching