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.

There are moments in the film that stand out in regards to Ichabod's altered appearance. There are at least two scenes accompanied by close-ups, a needed cover for a pick-up shot with changed dialogue. Ichabod's hair is straightened and of a longer length. His coat in the earlier scenes has two rows of golden thread edging his coat, from its collar to its hemline. His waistcoat has the same threading. At times the coat has only one line of said golden edging. Other times it appears to have two. Ichabod's coat is tailored with two such lines when it comes to action figures, cosplay replicas, etc. The 12" Medicom Ichabod figure wears two thin coats, leading one to think it is based on the film costuming.  The double row of gold above.   The single row below.

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.

There are many severed heads belonging to unknown victims shown in behind the scenes features and even in the film itself. I've already focused on the head I believe belongs to the Widow Winship (see Mysterious Woman). Here I can unfortunately do little more than picture my finds. In the Behind the Legend Featurette included on the Sleepy Hollow DVD the severed head of an unknown man is shown. He is also seen on one of the Inkworks Trading Cards:

There are a two deleted scenes not shown in the US theatrical or teaser trailers that can be seen in brief glimpses in TV adverts.  In the first we are allowed a few more seconds of the scene where Katrina delivers to Ichabod the Van Tassel family Bible. In the second, we see an additional page from Ichabod's ledger, moments before he burns the book. Interestingly, in the original drawing by Jonathan Rosen, Katrina was given horns and pointed ears by Ichabod which here have been erased. The original drawing of the 'evil eye' also is different and appears to have been redrawn. One has to wonder why the filmmakers found such disfavor with their inclusion.

The following idea first presented itself to me last year while reading the novelization. After enough time had passed for me to forget the small details, I wondered if Ichabod, Katrina, and Mary Archer had all at one point lived in the same small cottage. This idea was encouraged by viewing the film and seeing, what is in my opinion, Ichabod's unsettled reaction after learning of the archer in the back of the fireplace, as well as Katrina reenacting a scene previously acted out by his mother. The windows and doors of the exterior dream cottage are similar in their placement to those in Katrina's childhood cottage. However, the layout of the former is confusing. From the exterior, shown in the background whilst Lady Crane blindly searches for her son, the dwelling is a small, if undersized cottage. When we see the interior it has a long hall which affixes to his father's church.

There are many parallels between Lady Crane and Katrina in the film which are also noted in the Peter Lerangis novelization and The Art of Sleepy Hollow . The novelization goes into the greatest depth, often mentioning details that are changed or cut from the final film/script draft. An interesting variation found in the novelization is of Ichabod's first dream, the one in which he sees his mother blindfolded just as Katrina was the first time they met. In this version, it seems as though young Ichabod is interacting with Katrina, who later turns into his mother. "They had left him there to stamp out the fire. Only Gunpowder had stayed with him. Now he is safe in his room at the Van Tassels'. Katrina is in the house too, sleeping in her room. Not far away. In his dream she is even closer. She's blindfolded, the way he'd first seen her in the parlor. But she isn't there or in the Van Tassel manor at all. She is standing in a kitchen doorway - his family'...

According to the Inkworks Trading Cards , Ichabod and Katrina exchanged gifts. Gifts of great significance to each giver. She gave him a book which belonged to her mother, A Compendium of Spells, Charms and Devices of the Spirit World , which we see in the film. He, in a scene deleted, gave to her the thaumatrope he had since childhood, a gift from his mother.  In the novelization, the scene is as follows:

The practice of magic is a recurring theme in Sleepy Hollow. In the film, five* women are sisters of the dark and light arts; Lady Crane, Mary Archer, the Crone, Katrina, and her mother. However, there is another who was taught magic by their mother, one who was also conditioned to fear its ways: Ichabod Crane. Young Ichabod in the novel is able to mimic a spell his mother completes before him. From the novelization by Peter Lerangis (page 66) "Milkweed seedlings. Millions of them. Filling the air, swirling like a snowstorm in summer. In the dream, he is far from the Van Tassel house, far from the awful events that brought him there. He is home again, in the woods behind the house, with Mother. She opens the milkweed pod and blows. The seedlings burst out. So many. They couldn't all have come from such a small place. It must be magic. He is giggling. The sound is high-pitched, like the pealing of a small bell. Mother hands him a pod and shows how to open it. He does, an...

Ichabod has at least three different hair lengths and many varying styles throughout the film. One of which has proven useful in determining which scenes were filmed at a later date, the pick-ups spoken of by Tim Burton and others. Some examples: The style shown in the photos below is the one that comes from dates later than those above. The later shots tend to be more humorous in nature. In these scenes, Ichabod seems very different from the Ichabod whose eyes betray his desire for Katrina as he wakes from dark dreams. The Ichabod who says farewell to Young Masbath is more akin to that soul than the comical Crane who confronts Notary Hardenbrook. The changes made to Ichabod's hair and nature cause one to wonder just how many changes were made to the story and characters in the length of the film's development.

In the finished film, we see Young Masbath slip away from the Van Tassel house as he observes light from the open door of the abandoned windmill. I believe this is the combination of two deleted scenes. The first involves Young Masbath being woken by a person leaving the Van Tassel house. He attempts to follow the figure as it passes into the night, but quickly loses its trail. It was, of course, Mary Van Tassel off for a secret rendezvous.

Pictured are scenes I can place as deleted from the film. Reading the scenes simultaneously with the script, there are a few that do not fit their descriptions, such as one scene of Beth Killian looking over her shoulder into the next room, watching Thomas. A few of Ichabod as well, especially the scene of Ichabod waking from a nightmare at the end of the US theatrical trailer. The dialogue in the deleted scene between Katrina and Ichabod remains intact, as in the script, unlike the clip shown in trailers.  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.  88. INT. KILLIAN'S HOME, KITCHEN -NIGHT Small home. Killian, Thomas and BETH, Killian's wife, have finished supper. Beth clears plates as Killian picks his teeth with a knife. Thomas gets down from his chair. He goes to the fireplace to light a tallow wick, which he takes to the next room.

In the film, Katrina's mother's maiden name is Fenwick, though in the novelization it is Kierstadt. It is also Kierstadt in the alternate drawing of the Van Tassel family tree found in The Art of Sleepy Hollow (page 33). You'll notice that Lady Van Tassel/Mary Archer has her maiden name as Preston in the film version of the Van Tassel family tree. Though in The Art of Sleepy Hollow, seen on the same alternate drawing as mentioned earlier, her name appears to be Abigail Fletcher. In the alternate Van Tassel tree, there is a Phillip Van Garrett, but no Peter or Dirk. There is no other Van Garrett among the final and highest branches other than that of Phillip. His death is dated as taking place in 1799, so one can assume he is none other than the patriarch of the family.

Within the Tree of the Dead's entrance, there is the head of a mysterious woman I believe to be Emily Winship. The head, however, is supposed to belong to the servant girl, Sarah (Jessica Oyelowo). The woman's face is fairly clear in the following photos: The last photo is slightly clearer in the footage from the Behind the Legend Featurette:

In the film, we are shown a close-up of the Van Tassel family tree  within their Bible.