Sleepy Hollow

Help here! Lend a hand here!

Anyone!

Constable Crane!

Ichabod Crane! Is that you?

None other. Not only me.

I have found something, which was lately a man.

Burn it.

Yes, sir.

Just a moment. We do not yet know the cause of death.

When you find them in the river, cause of death is drowning.

Possibly so, if there is water in the lungs. But by pathology,

we might be able to determine whether or not he was dead before he went into the river.

I will need to examine the body.

Cut him up. Are we heathens?

What happened to him?

Nothing, sir. Arrested for burglary.

Good work.

The millennium is almost upon us.

In a few months, we will be living in the 19th century.

Yet our courts continue to rely on medieval devices of torture.

Stand down!

I stand up for sense and justice.

Our jails overflow with men and women convicted on confessions worth no more than this one.

Constable Crane!

This is a song we have heard from you more than once.

Now, there are two courses open to me.

First, I can let you cool your heels in the cells...

until you learn respect for the dignity of my office.

I beg pardon.

But why am I the only one who sees that to solve crimes,

to detect the guilty, we must use our brains...

...to recognize vital clues...

using up-to-date scientific techniques?

Which brings me to the second course.

There is a town upstate, two days' journey to the north...

in the Hudson Highlands.

It is a place called Sleepy Hollow.

Have you heard of it?

I have not.

An isolated farming community, mainly Dutch.

Three persons have been murdered there, all within a fortnight.

Each one found with the head...

...lopped off.

Lopped off?

Clean as dandelion heads, apparently.

You will take these experimentations of yours to Sleepy Hollow,

and there you will detect the murderer.

Bring him here to face our good justice.

Will you do this?

I shall.

Remember, it is you,

Ichabod Crane,

who is now put to the test.

The Pickety witch- The Pickety witch-

Who's got a kiss for the Pickety witch?

The Pickety witch- The Pickety witch-

Who's got a kiss for the Pickety witch?

Is it Theodore?

Your pardon, Miss. I'm a stranger.

Then have a kiss on account.

I'm looking for Baltus Van Tassel.

I'm his daughter, Katrina Van Tassel.

And who are you, friend? We have not heard your name yet.

I've not said it. Excuse me.

- You need some manners. - Brom!

Come, come. We'll have no raised voices.

It is only to raise spirits during this dark time...

that I and my dear wife are giving this little party.

Young sir, you are most welcome, even if you are selling something.

Thank you, sir.

I am Constable Ichabod Crane sent to you from New York...

to investigate murder in Sleepy Hollow.

Then Sleepy Hollow is grateful to you, Constable Crane.

And we hope you will honor us by remaining in this house.

Well spoke, dear.

Come sir, we'll get you settled. Play on!

Excuse me, please.

Thank you.

Please tell Mr. Van Tassel I will be down in a moment.

I will, sir.

Thank God you're here.

Excellent! Come in.

Leave us, my dear.

We are joined by Dr. Thomas Lancaster,

Reverend Steenwyck,

our able magistrate Samuel Philipse,

and lastly, this fine fellow is James Hardenbrook,

our notary.

And you, sir?

A simple farmer who has prospered.

The town looks to me as friend and counsel.

And landlord, and banker. Can we proceed?

Thank you.

So...

...three persons murdered.

First, peter Van Garrett...

and his son, Dirk Van Garrett.

Both of them strong,

capable men.

Found together,

decapitated.

One week later, the Widow Winship.

Also... decapitated.

Now, I will need to ask you many questions.

But first, let me ask...

...is anyone suspected?

How much have your superiors explained to you, Constable?

Only that the three were slain in open ground,

their heads found severed from their bodies.

Their heads were not found severed. Their heads were not found at all.

- The heads are... gone? - Taken.

Taken by the Headless Horseman.

Taken back to hell.

Pardon. I don't-

perhaps you had better sit down.

Yes.

The Horseman was a Hessian mercenary...

sent to these shores by German Princes...

to keep Americans under the yoke of England.

But unlike his compatriots who came for money,

the Horseman came for love of carnage.

When battle was joined, there you'd find him.

He rode a giant black steed named Daredevil.

He was infamous for riding his horse hard into battle,

chopping off heads at full gallop.

He had filed his teeth down to sharp points...

to add to the ferocity of his appearance-

This butcher didn't finally reach his end...

until the winter of '79,

not far from here in our western woods.

They chopped off his head with his own sword.

Even today, the western woods is a haunted place...

where brave men will not venture.

For what was planted in the ground that day---

...was a seed of evil.

And so it has been for 20 years-

But now the Hessian wakes.

He's on the rampage, cutting off heads where he finds them.

Are you saying... is that what you believe?

Seeing is believing.

They tell me you've brought books and trappings...

...of scientific investigation.

This is the only book I recommend you read.

I see.

Reverend Steenwyck. Gentlemen.

Murder needs no ghosts to come from the grave.

We have murders in New York without benefit of ghouls and goblins.

You're a long way from New York, Constable.

The assassin is a man of flesh and blood,

and I will discover him.

Come out, Devil.

His name's Gunpowder.

He should do just fine, Mr. Killian. Thank you.

Good luck, sir. If you need help, call my name.

Much appreciated.

Don't you worry about a thing.

Everything's going to be just fine.

Thomas! Inside!

Run along for your breakfast.

Kiss your mother once for you and twice for me.

Murder! The Horseman's killed again!

All right, Gunpowder, we're off.

Come on. No, no.

Come on, the other way. No, no. Turn around.

Good horsie.

Mr. Miller,

- ride back for the coffin cart. - Yes, sir.

The rest of you, keep a sharp lookout.

It's all right. I'm here now.

The fourth victim, Jonathan Masbath.

I see.

And... the head?

Taken.

Taken.

Interesting.

- Very interesting. - What is?

In headless corpse cases of this sort,

the head is removed to prevent identification of the body.

But we know this was Jonathan Masbath.

Precisely. So why was the head removed?

- Why? - Right.

- You have moved the body? - I did.

- You must never move the body! - Why not?

Because.

The stride is gigantic.

The attacker rode Masbath down,

turned his horse.

Came back. Came back to claim the head.

Yes. There's a chemical reaction.

It shows there was a powerful, singular thrust to the neck.

Interesting.

What is it?

The wound was cauterized in the very instant...

...as though the blade itself were red-hot.

And yet, no blistering, no scorched flesh.

The Devil's fire.

"Be vigilant," as it sayeth in the Book of Peter,

chapter 5, verse 8.

"Because your adversary, the Devil,"

"as a roaring lion, walketh about,"