Without Benefit of Ghouls and Goblins: A Sleepy Hollow Blog

Two heads reside in the Horseman's nest, the Tree of the Dead, that do not match the features of the actors who portrayed Dirk and Peter Van Garrett. A sculpt was created bearing Martin Landau's likeness, but it was apparently made late into production and used only for his decapitation. In the commentary for the US Sleepy Hollow DVD ,  Tim Burton states that the film's opening was a late addition. This is supported by the absence of this scene from the novelization and published screenplay - and even the comic book. In the film, we see the unearthed bodies of Peter and Dirk Van Garrett, Jonathan Masbath and Emily Winship as Ichabod investigates Magistrate Philipse's cryptic message, "Five bodies in four graves". Ichabod walks beside a row of open coffins and states the name of each corpse he passes. The clothes the bodies wear do not match those that Dirk and Peter were last seen wearing in life, nor Jonathan Masbath in the act of death. Peter Van G...

An interesting exchange of roses takes place in the third draft of the Sleepy Hollow script. INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, SECOND FLOOR -- MORNING Ichabod exits his room, satchel in hand. He looks down the hall, then steps back in to take a white rose from a vase. AROUND A CORNER, Ichabod comes to the last door. He bends, slipping the white rose under the crack of the door. Later in the script, Katrina follows Ichabod and Young Masbath into the Western Woods - as she does in the film. However, in this version, aside from wishing to help Ichabod, she also wished to thank him for the gift of a white rose. Afterwards, some distance into the script, Ichabod and Young Masbath visit the Notary Hardenbrook's office where they find documents which seem to indicate Baltus Van Tassel is responsible for the killings. Ichabod has yet to speak to Katrina   when the following scene takes place. INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, ICHABOD'S ROOM -- DAY Young Masbath is seated, bored. Ichabod write...

The following is a result from concomitantly reading the screenplay and viewing the film.  It is beneficial to listen to the movie with headphones. Jumps or changes in dialogue are significantly easier to detect by doing so. I urge everyone who has not experienced watching Sleepy Hollow in such a manner to try it. These are but just a few instances of editing. They are included because I feel fairly certain they once existed in full. The deleted dialogue and actions, read in the screenplay, will be underlined . The first is a segment from the Van Tassel harvest party, when Baltus and Lady Van Tassel introduce themselves to Constable Crane. From The Art of Sleepy Hollow: BALTUS (CONT'D) Young sir, you are welcome even if you are selling something! This pleasantry relaxes the atmosphere around Ichabod. ICHABOD Thank you, sir. I am Constable Ichabod Crane, sent to you from New York with authority to investigate murder in Sleepy Hollow. This has quite...

During my recent rewatch of Sleepy Hollow I noticed a reoccurring design featured in the clothing and other belongings shared by the two most important women in Constable Crane's life: His mother and Katrina. Lady Crane and Young Ichabod.

While pausing the film I happened upon a mistake involving poor little Thomas Killian's capture by the Headless Horseman. We first see a shot of Thomas being found by the Horseman. His hand grips the back of Thomas' shirt, pulling him upwards.

From the shooting script to the finalized film, there are several differences once Ichabod rises "fit for another day" and until Ichabod finds the Evil Eye under his bed. Not all need to be noted. I will keep to those involving Ichabod's summation regarding the Horseman's puppetry and his meeting with Notary Hardenbrook. As the version found in both The Art of Sleepy Hollow and the novelization is, in my opinion, superior I feel as though the differences should be shared. Film version: Ichabod rises slowly from the bed, still recovering from his wound. As Lady Van Tassel exits his room he sees Young Masbeth enter. He has in his hand a pitcher and is walking toward a table with a water basin.  "Well, I'm fit for another day I think. Fit enough to face a mortal adversary." A matter of time has elapsed. Ichabod now crawls about on the floor of his room on all fours, picking up an assortment of loose papers, some of which seem to be from his ledger. Yo...

Here I will post my findings concerning the Crone's death and connecting scenes which were deleted or left unsaid. A larger plot cut from the finished version of the film involved Ichabod discovering the Crone's headless corpse outside her cave. He was to notice that she was not wearing a necklace she wore while living. Later he would discover the same pendant being worn by Katina who had been gifted the bauble by Lady Van Tassel. Before the Crone gave Ichabod the location of the Headless Horseman's grave, we were to see a close shot of her mimicking a neck being cut, an excuse to give us a glimpse of a necklace she was wearing which would later play a role in the story. As to what the entirely of that role once was, there is no way of knowing for certain. In one feature the amulet is barely noticeable. 

Peter Van Garrett's will, which we see being sealed at the very beginning of the film, is dated July 15th, 1799. As the opening sequence is presented, it seems as though Van Garrett is killed almost immediately after the will was made, on the carriage ride home.  The date of July 15th is also present on Peter Van Garrett and Emily Winship's marriage certificate.

In the film, there is one visual link between Ichabod's father and the Headless Horseman. It is when Ichabod dreams his third and final dream before the truth surrounding his mother's death is revealed to him. We see an unscripted scene of Ichabod's father exiting the room of secrets, the room which contains Lady Crane's corpse. As Lord Crane passes his unseen son, who is hidden behind church pews, he is before Ichabod's eyes transformed into the Headless Horseman. The sounds of his spurs sound throughout the church. This transformation is unexplained in the film. Grasped mainly as a connection of one evil with another. There is also in the book and script a scene in which the images of the Headless Horseman and Ichabod's father intermix. It is from a dream sequence where young Ichabod is perhaps under the influence of magic, having secretly eaten a piece of mushroom dropped by his mother before she began to dance with him.