The Date On Peter Van Garrett's Will

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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.


The dated pages in Ichabod's ledger, as drawn by Jonathan Rosen, have the time he stays in Sleepy Hollow as October through November. When Ichabod returns to New York with Katrina and Young Masbeth, the streets and buildings are covered with a layer of snow which leads one to believe dates in the ledger are true.

It is said that the Widow Winship was murdered a week after the Van Garretts. Ichabod Crane arrives in Sleepy Hollow not long after her death. None of the bodies of the murder victims have decomposed enough to warrant them being in the grave for long. (This is not so in the novel, the poor state of the bodies is written with vivid detail.)

Before Young Masbath and Ichabod encounter the Crone, Masbath shares the following information:

"But there was something that happened one night a week before the murder. An argument upstairs between father and son. And my father was later sent for by Mr. Peter Van Garrett."

Later, when Ichabod and Young Masbath are in Notary Hardenbrook's office, Ichabod comes to the conclusion that the elder Masbath was murdered because of his knowledge of a secret:

"It was the servant, Jonathan Masbath . . . the night father and son quarreled over the new will, Jonathan Masbath was summoned upstairs to bear witness. Here is his signature. I am afraid it was his death warrant, Young Masbath. The Horseman came for him."

 The quotes above seem to indicate that Peter Van Garrett's death occurred a week after his new will was made.

The scene of Peter Van Garrett being killed is one said by Tim Burton to have been filmed at a date later than others. Did Burton want the film to jump ahead a few months after the will was seen being made, or is the date on the will something we are meant to overlook?  

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