Items And Places In And Out Of Dreams

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.

Both houses have windows and doors (in the case of the ruins, an area where a door may have been) in the same areas. Their hearths are in the same places. Their floor layouts are similar.

When the door at the end of the hall is opened, an illusion of a continued hall is created by a steady line of red carpet leading to a red door, a room of secrets.

When Lady Crane is shown inhaling the perfume of the burning wildflowers, and later condemned by her husband, we see beyond the arched stone entryway what appears to be a wall, windows and doors. The hallway seems to be to the right, unseen in these photos.

Circled are the doors and window. The window bears a faint resemblance to the remaining windows of the cottage ruins. 

There is also similar window in Ichabod's room at the Van Tassel home.

In both houses, cobblestones surround the immediate area around the hearth before giving way to wooden flooring. In the third photo, a definite line can be seen across the floor, matching the other cottage.

Outside the dream cottage is an orchard of cherry trees. Near the Van Tassel home there is also an orchard.

Perhaps I am misreading matters, but in watching the film and studying the books, I came to assume the cottage ruins were not that far from the Van Tassel home, as Baltus used to work at the mill and the script lists the area as 'Van Tassel Estate'. Little time seems to be required to visit the ruins from the Van Tassel home. Note also that Ichabod's childhood home was situated along the edge of a forest.

Note the sky in the background gradually growing lighter in the few moments Katrina and Ichabod speak in the sewing room. The sun has still not completely risen by the time they reach the cottage ruins. 

Young Ichabod searches for his mother in the forest behind their house. 

Throughout the Van Tassel house, and in one instance The City Watchhouse, we can find items that are similar to those seen in Ichabod's dreams, if not the actual items in the case of the Van Tassel family Bible.

Two accounts of similar seating.

Devices of torture.

This final comparison may be reaching, but both chairs have similar shapes.

In the end, I don't know if it is all simply a matter of Ichabod intermixing his recent reality with his past in dreams, that he can in some way foretell the future, or that there are greater ties connecting the past and present than we have any way of knowing, having been lost in script changes and film edits. What I feel - rather than know - is that it is all intentional on part of the filmmakers.