Sleepy Hollow
ICHABOD (faces Masbath) Young Masbath, I am sorry for your loss. It is a great and sad tragedy. However… I cannot be the one to look after you now.
YOUNG MASBATH (angry) I did not ask you to, did I?
Young Masbath exits. Ichabod remains impassive.
EXT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, FRONT PORCH-DAY
Ichabod comes out. KILLIAN, a dashingly rustic man, carries his son, THOMAS, 5, and chats with Baltus. Doctor Lancaster peers off at something through a SPYGLASS.
BALTUS Hail, Constable. How are you?
ICHABOD Well enough. Your gathering does honor to the deceased.
DOCTOR LANCASTER (still using spyglass) We must be a curious sight to him.
ICHABOD What are you spying on?
DOCTOR LANCASTER (offers the spyglass) The Lenape. He comes to gawk at civilization from time to time.
ICHABOD’S POINT OF VIEW-THROUGH SPYGLASS
Searching a line of trees and foliage far away…
DOCTOR LANCASTER (o.s.) Do you see the Redskinned bastard?
There he is-the LENAPE. A towering savage with misshapen features covered in tumors. He ducks away.
BACK TO SCENE ON PORCH
Ichabod lowers the spyglass, a little awed.
ICHABOD He is a behemoth.
DOCTOR LANCASTER A diseased monster.
BALTUS If you gentlemen will excuse the doctor and I… we have financial matters to discuss.
Ichabod and Killian nod as Baltus and Lancaster head in.
KILLIAN Master Crane, sir. I’m glad we have time alone. You’ve been told plenty about the Horseman, I’m certain.
ICHABOD More than enough, actually. (tired laugh) I beg you, no more, please.
KILLIAN No, sir, no. If you ask me, I say you just laid eyes on our murderer through that glass.
Ichabod ponders, folding the spyglass.
ICHABOD Tell me something. (pause) What becomes of Young Masbath?
KILLIAN Van Ripper and his wife agreed to take him. They have children and a good home and good land.
Ichabod nods. He turns to look THROUGH THE WINDOW. In the DINING ROOM, Van Ripper rises, ill. His wife questions his health, but he holds her off and vomits.
Ichabod notes this with a deep sigh.
EXT. VAN TASSEL ORCHARD-EARLY EVENING
Ocher dusk. Ichabod rides to Young Masbath, seated on the ground, miserable. Young Masbath does not look up.
ICHABOD Find yourself a place in the servants’ residence and wake me before dawn. Our first task will be an unsavory one.
Ichabod rides. Young Masbath runs to his horse and follows.
EXT. CHURCHYARD AND CEMETERY-DAWN
Steenwyck is on horseback, looking down at Ichabod, furious.
FATHER STEENWYCK It is sacrilege!
ICHABOD I cannot proceed without examining the previous victims.
Steenwyck looks to men with shovels. Killian’s there. Philipse, hung-over, stands beside Young Masbath.
FATHER STEENWYCK Magistrate Philipse, surely you can stop this.
Philipse just looks up with a helpless expression.
FATHER STEENWYCK I will not allow it. I will not!
ICHABOD Protest to my superiors if you like.
FATHER STEENWYCK Your superiors are two days away!
ICHABOD Then, you should have left two days ago, because I have men willing to help me today.
Ichabod motions. Killian leads the men to the graveyard. Steenwyck watches, enraged. He kicks his horse and rides. Philipse looks worried.
EXT. CHURCHYARD AND CEMETERY-LATER MORNING (TIME CUT)
A PSALM is HEARD READ by STEENWYCK O.S. while a coffin is exhumed. Ichabod guides the lifting. The coffin is put near the headstone “WINDSOR.” Ichabod looks…
At the church, Steenwyck faces about fifty people who now take up the PRAYER.
Across the cemetery, two coffins, one small, one large, are pried open. “VAN GARRETT, 1799.” Killian leads the effort with Young Masbath’s aid…
The lids come off, revealing the HEADLESS BODIES of a MAN and a little BOY. Young Masbath backs away.
At the “WINDSOR” coffin, nails creak as Ichabod opens the lid. WE DO NOT SEE inside, but when Ichabod does, he is aghast. He looks to the men, angry.
ICHABOD Why was I not told of this?
No answer. Killian arrives, nods solemnly.
KILLIAN The Widow Windsor.
ICHABOD Is that all you say? Look at her.
KILLIAN It’s not something people speak of openly. She did not remarry.
Ichabod kneels, studying. Now, WE SEE: the belly of the headless corpse is bulbous, because the Widow Windsor was very far along in a pregnancy.
Ichabod notices: a tear in the cloth of widow’s blouse. He reaches through the tear, feeling the stomach.
He straightens, greatly troubled.
INT. DOCTOR’S RESIDENCE, MEDICAL ROOM-MORNING
Scissors cut open the widow’s blouse. There’s an inch-long WOUND on the moldering belly; a sword puncture.
Ichabod examines the corpse on a table. Lancaster watches, anxiously mopping his face. Young Masbath’s in a corner. Ichabod goes to write in his ledger full of notes.
ICHABOD What is the common thread between these victims?
YOUNG MASBATH I’m sure I don’t know.
ICHABOD We must discover it. The reason the murderer chose these persons.
Ichabod goes to look at the widow’s corpse, pondering.
ICHABOD The wounds are the same. Cauterized. No chopping or half-measures either. One stroke took the head. Have you seen, doctor… ? (pointing to it) Even the spinal bone… sliced as smooth as butter.
DOCTOR LANCASTER I do not care. You are welcome to use my work area, but I beg you… return her to her resting place.
ICHABOD In time, doctor. Soon as I finish.
Ichabod picks up an iron knife. He looks to Young Masbath.
ICHABOD You should step outside.
EXT. CHURCHYARD CEMETERY-EARLY EVENING
Ichabod and others restore graves. Ichabod looks to the church, where Clergyman Steenwyck stands in the door.
FATHER STEENWYCK The devil sent you, Ichabod Crane. The Lord will not forgive your sins.
Steenwyck shuts the creaky doors.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, ICHABOD’S ROOM-NIGHT
Ichabod sleeps, dreaming…
ICHABOD’S DREAM-FARMLAND-DAY
A young BOY, 10, stands in a wheat field with his back to us. A FEMALE VOICE is HEARD FAINTLY, getting LOUDER.
FEMALE VOICE (O.S.) Ichabod! Ichabod… come along.
The boy, YOUNG ICHABOD, turns, smiling. He runs. We FOLLOW to a clearing behind a frontier home. MOTHER waits. Lovely woman. She kisses him.
ICHABOD’S DREAM-YOUNG ICHABOD’S BEDROOM-NIGHT
Dark. Young Ichabod, in bed, has one eye open. Across the room, Mother has her back to him. She’s WHISPERING something to no one. She turns…
Young Ichabod pretends he is asleep.
A DRAWER is HEARD SHUTTING. Mother exits. Ichabod gets up, curious, opens a drawer… finds something behind clothing.
It’s a piece of reed grass, woven into an elaborate pattern with shafts of wheat twisted into the center. Young Ichabod replaces it, closes the drawer.
ICHABOD’S DREAM-MARKET SQUARE-DAY
A busy, muddy street lined by wares and produce. Young Ichabod walks with FATHER, an emotionless man. Father stops to examine tools. Young Ichabod stays by him, but something captures his attention…
Across the way, Mother is involved in a argument with a FREAKISH-LOOKING WOMAN. They shout. People stop to watch. Can’t make out words, but Freakish Woman is furious.
ICHABOD’S DREAM-STORM SKY-NIGHT
LIGHTNING flashes over tree tops. THUNDER BOOMS.
