Sleepy Hollow
Being the true storie of one Ichabod Crane
and the Headless Horseman
Kevin Yagher and Andrew Kevin Walker
Based on "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving
Screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker
and
Tom Stoppard
Shooting Draft
9/29/98
A pleasing land of drowsy head it was,
of dreams that wave before the half shut eye...
NOTE: THE HARD COPY OF THIS SCRIPT CONTAINED SCENE NUMBERS
AND SOME "OMITTED" SLUGS. THEY HAVE BEEN REMOVED FOR THIS
SOFT COPY.
EXT. CITY STREETS -- NIGHT
Empty cobblestone streets are bordered by stately buildings. A rapidly
CLANGING BELL breaks the silence from afar.
INSERT TITLE: New York City
1799
TWO CONSTABLES clamor around a corner, lanterns held high, listening.
They disappear down an alleyway.
EXT. CITY WATERFRONT -- NIGHT
ELSEWHERE, piers border the Hudson. The BELL is LOUDER here. The two
constables arrive, searching, pistols drawn.
CONSTABLE ONE
Where are you?!
MAN'S VOICE (O.S.)
Here... ! Over here!
The constables hurry to the river's edge...
Down an embankment, the MAN, another constable, has his back to us.
He's waist deep in dark water, throwing aside his ALARM BELL,
struggling to pull something from the murk...
MAN
I need your help with this.
Constable Two and Constable One move forward, wary.
CONSTABLE ONE
Constable Crane? Ichabod Crane... is
that you?
The MAN turns. Meet ICHABOD CRANE, handsome, eyes piercing but nervous
and unsettled.
ICHABOD
None other, and not only me...
(returns to lifting)
I have found something...
Ichabod drags a bloated MALE CORPSE out from the water. He backs away,
shaken, looks to the constables...
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
... which was lately a man.
INT. CITY WATCHHOUSE, JAIL -- NIGHT
In a dank, cavernous room, the distinguished HIGH CONSTABLE lifts a
blanket off the corpse in a wheelbarrow manned by Constable Two.
Constable One and Ichabod are near, watching.
HIGH CONSTABLE
Burn it.
CONSTABLE ONE
Yes, sir.
Constable Two wheels the corpse down a RAMP to another room.
ICHABOD
Just a moment, if I may... we do not
yet know the cause of death.
HIGH CONSTABLE
When you find 'em in the river,
cause of death is drowning.
ICHABOD
Possibly so if there is water in the
lungs, but... by pathology we might
determine whether or not he was dead
when he went into the river.
HIGH CONSTABLE
Cut him up? Are we heathens? Let him
rest in peace -- in one piece as
according to God and the New York
Department of Health.
Ichabod is about to protest, but stops himself, frustrated.
Two THUGGISH CONSTABLES -- different ones -- bring in a bleeding
SEMICONSCIOUS MAN.
HIGH CONSTABLE (CONT'D)
What happened to him?
THUGGISH CONSTABLE
Nothing, sir. Arrested for burglary.
The constables throw him against the bars of the slammer while one of
them opens the cage door. With their leather truncheons, the cops beat
their prisoner into the cage and lock him in.
HIGH CONSTABLE
Good work...
Ichabod hurries to follow his two constables and the corpse.
EXT. CITY WATCHHOUSE -- DAY
The metropolis thrives; horsedrawn vehicles plodding, MEN, WOMEN and
CHILDREN, MERCHANTS and TRADESMEN everywhere.
MEN are held in chains and gibbets in front of the Watchhouse.
INT. CITY WATCHHOUSE, JAIL -- DAY
We enter midway into a "Audition Scene." A row of CITY OFFICIALS are
"auditioning" APPLICANTS (mostly obvious Cranks and Eccentrics) with
Devices for crime fighting and crime solving. The Applicants are
crowded together to one side, waiting their turn. Ichabod, holding
only papers and books, is among them.
"On Stage" at this moment is an INVENTOR demonstrating his invention,
of which more in a moment. Facing the "stage" is the BURGOMASTER,
flanked by the HIGH CONSTABLE (who has a list of names) and various
MAGISTRATES and ALDERMEN.
The Inventor is demonstrating a combination wallet and mousetrap.
INVENTOR
... and in a few weeks, the plague of
pickpockets will be a thing of the
past!
He shows how to set the trap-spring.
INVENTOR (CONT'D)
Give me a dozen constables in
gentleman's dress...
He pockets the wallet-trap.
INVENTOR (CONT'D)
... mixing with the crowds where
pickpockets are rife!
He produces a fake hand-on-a-stick and does the business.
INVENTOR (CONT'D)
A stealthy hand dips into the
gentleman's pocket... and -- !
There is the sound of the trap snapping shut and the Inventor
withdraws the fake hand with its fingers chopped off. The Officials
wince, impressed.
BURGOMASTER
Thank you. We will take your device
under consideration, Mr.
Vanderbilt... Next!
A SPOTTY MAN starts dragging a man-sized cage contraption to center
stage... while Ichabod tries to get the attention of the Officials.
ICHABOD
Gentlemen! -- the Millennium is
almost upon us -- In a few months we
will be living in the nineteenth
century -- !
HIGH CONSTABLE
Wait your turn, Constable Crane --
ICHABOD
These devices are unworthy of a
modern civilization...
BURGOMASTER
Quiet! -- Next, I say!
SPOTTY MAN
Thank you, sir!
He turns proudly to his man-size cage, whose front hinges down for
ingress.
The floor of the cage is a steel plate. A "writting board" for signing
confessions is attached to the inside of the cage.
SPOTTY MAN (CONT'D)
The Tomkins self-locking
Confessional is cheap at the price
and will last for years with just an
occasional wipe with a damp cloth...
When the villain steps on the floor
plate...
Ichabod, dropping books and papers around his feet, is feverishly
writing on a blank page (his "traveling inkpot" is hung around his
neck).
ICHABOD
(pointing to the Spotty
Man)
Arrest that man!
HIGH CONSTABLE
(jaw dropped)
Arrest... ?
ICHABOD
I accuse him of murder!
SPOTTY MAN
What the devil are you talking
about, you loon?!
Ichabod takes two steps toward him and gives him a violent shove in
the chest. The Spotty Man staggers back into his cage, which self-
locks, and at the same time a head clamp descends from the top,
gripping the Spotty Man's head. His arms flail about as he yells.
Ichabod slaps his page on the writing board, offers his pen.
ICHABOD
Sign here!
SPOTTY MAN
(groaning and pointing)
The release handle...
ICHABOD
Not till you confess... !
Uproar around him, Ichabod waits as the prisoner signs the paper, then
pulls the "release handle."
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
(waving the confession)
I have here a confession to the
murder of a man I fished out of the
river last night!
HIGH CONSTABLE
(furious)
Stand down!
ICHABOD
I stand up, for sense and justice!
Our jails overflow with men and
women convicted on confessions worth
no more than this one!
The High Constable bangs a gavel until he gets some silence for the
Burgomaster. Meanwhile, the Spotty Man is rescued by his friends.
BURGOMASTER
Constable, this is a song we have
heard from you more than once but
never before with this discordant
accompaniment. I have two courses
open to me. First, I can let you
cool your heels in the cells until
you learn respect for the dignity of
my office...
ICHABOD
I beg pardon. I only meant well. Why
am I the only one who sees that to
solve crimes, to detect the guilty,
we must use our brains? -- to
recognize vital clues, using up-to-
date scientific --
BURGOMASTER
(interrupting)
Which brings me to the second
course. Constable Crane, there is a
town upstate, two days' journey to
the north in the Hudson Highlands.
It is a place called Sleepy Hollow.
Have you heard of it?
ICHABOD
I have not.
BURGOMASTER
An isolated farming community,
mostly Dutch. Three persons have
been murdered there, all within a
fortnight... each found with their
head lopped off.
ICHABOD
Lopped off?
BURGOMASTER
Clean as dandelion heads,
apparently. Now, these ideas of
yours, they have never been put to
the test...
ICHABOD
I have never been allowed to put
them to the test!
BURGOMASTER
Just so, granted. So you take your
experimentations to Sleepy Hollow
and deduce, er detect the murderer.
Bring him here to face our good
justice. Will you do this?
ICHABOD
(swallowing doubt)
I shall, gladly.
BURGOMASTER
And remember -- it is you, Ichabod
Crane, who is now put to the test.
The Burgomaster smiles encouragingly.
INT/EXT. ICHABOD'S HOME, 2ND FLOOR -- DAY (TITLE SEQUENCE BEGINS)
Piles of BOOKS and PAPERS, JARS of CHEMICALS, MAGNIFYING GLASSES,
CHALKBOARDS covered with scrawl and ANATOMY CHARTS above a small bed.
AT THE WINDOW, Ichabod holds a bird cage with a red CARDINAL inside.
He opens the cage and the bird flies free...
ICHABOD
Such a day for such a sad farewell,
this is good-bye, my sweet...
Ichabod watches it go, sad, then looks down. A COACH halts in the
street below. The forlorn DRIVER looks up.
EXT. NEW YORK CITY STREETS -- DAY
ICHABOD'S COACH leaves city limits, forgoing civilization... following
a dirt road to forested wilderness.
EXT. NEW YORK FORESTS -- NIGHT
Coach lanterns light the way as the coach lumbers along, caressed by
tight foliage. A WOLF is HEARD HOWLING. Ichabod looks out, unnerved,
shuts the window's curtain.
EXT. UPSTATE FORESTS -- DAY
The coach moves through sun dappled forest...
INT. ICHABOD'S COACH -- DAY
Ichabod checks the contents of a LEATHER SATCHEL in his lap. He pauses
a moment, studying the palm of his hand.
Ichabod touches the strange SCARS on both his palms: evenly dispersed,
tiny dots of tissue. Many scars. After a moment, he returns to looking
through his satchel.
EXT. SLEEPY HOLLOW, THE LONG STRAIGHT ROAD -- LATE DAY
Ichabod stands between two massive STONE PILLARS. He's unsure, turning
to watch his coach leave him behind.
Ichabod picks up his bags and heads between the pillars, starting up a
LONG STRAIGHT ROAD. He does not notice, in the tree limbs above: THREE
DEAD RAVENS, hung by twine.
EXT. SLEEPY HOLLOW, TOWN SQUARE -- DUSK
Ichabod walks on, passing a CHURCH and GRAVEYARD. The road ahead is
bordered by rows of businesses and two-story homes.
Ichabod enters the TOWN SQUARE proper. And ELDERLY WOMAN stands in a
doorway, watching Ichabod. Ichabod tips his hat. The woman backs away,
shuts her door.
Ichabod continues. He looks up... a MAN closes the shutters of a
second-story window.
As Ichabod continues he sees that there are two or three Riflemen
placed at vantage points on the roofs and also, when he looks back, a
Rifleman up on the Church Tower. The whole village is like a Western
town waiting for an attack.
EXT. WOODEN BUNKER -- DUSK
A strange WOODEN BUNKER, like a small fortress with a HUGE BELL
mounted on top, sits in a field. SEVERAL DIRT FARMERS are gathered,
all with rifles.
Ichabod stops as he walks, looking at this...
A boy, YOUNG MASBATH, aged 10, comes to the Designated Rifleman,
JONATHAN MASBATH, with food and drink, i.e., a picnic tied up in cloth
and a stone bottle of beer. Masbath Senior takes the picnic and gives
Young Masbath an affectionate pat. He smiles confidently.
MASBATH SENIOR
Don't worry, son.
One farmer comes to lead Young Masbath away as Jonathan heads into the
BUNKER, taking several rifles.
In front of the BUNKER, across a field, other dirt farmers light TORCH
POSTS in a line along the forest edge.
Ichabod ponders this as he trudges along...
EXT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE -- DUSK
Ahead on a hill: the grand Van Tassel MANOR HOUSE, windows aglow.
TITLE SEQUENCE ENDS
EXT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, FRONT DOOR -- NIGHT
Ichabod puts down his bags (a suitcase and a leather box-bag) but
keeps his satchel.
JACK-O'-LANTERNS glow on the porch.
A KISSING COUPLE are lustfully busy in a dark corner of the porch. The
woman is a pretty servant, SARAH. The man we will know as DOCTOR
LANCASTER.
Ichabod almost blunders into them, causing a little panic and
embarrassment, in which Ichabod shares, and as he mumbles apologies
and opens the door, a shaft of light identifies the couple for our
further reference.
The open door reveals the MAIN HALL and FOYER...
There's a harvest party in progress. PEOPLE are gathered. QUIET MUSIC
is HEARD from elsewhere.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, SITTING ROOM -- NIGHT
Ichabod opens a door. MEN and WOMEN eat and drink, talking quietly in
groups. Ichabod looks around, daunted, tentatively makes his way...
Ichabod bumps into a few people, excusing himself. He mops his sweaty
brow, finds a pretty girl.
ICHABOD
Pardon my intrusion, I seek Baltus
Van Tassel but --
GIRL
In the parlor, sir, further on.
Ichabod thanks her, continues...
Ahead, CHILDREN, YOUNG MEN and LADIES in a circle taunt a BLINDFOLDED
YOUNG WOMAN spun around by the handsome, barrel-chested man, BROM VAN
BRUNT. Brom releases the woman. Everyone quiets, avoiding her
searching hands.
The Blindfolded Woman circles slowly, chanting a REFRAIN that makes
the CHILDREN and even some of the younger WOMEN shiver with
pleasurable fright. They giggle nervously and hush each other up.
BLINDFOLDED WOMAN
"The Pickety Witch, the Pickety
Witch, who's got a kiss for the
pickety witch?"
She makes a lunge, grabbing empty air, just missing BROM; everyone
moans humorously. Doctor Lancaster slips back into the party, and
Sarah likewise.
Ichabod is trying to pass through to reach the farther door... and on
the NEXT REFRAIN finds himself caught by the Blindfolded Woman.
Everyone stays quiet, that's the game, but of course everyone is also
puzzled, not knowing Ichabod. The Woman touches Ichabod's face, which
embarrasses Ichabod and displeases Brom.
CHILD
A kiss, a kiss!
WOMAN
She has to guess first.
The WOMAN is wifely, and as she puts her arm through Doctor
Lancaster's arm, we realize she is his wife.
BLINDFOLDED WOMAN
Is it Theodore?
There's a general laugh at that.
ICHABOD
Pardon, ma'am. I am only a stranger.
BLINDFOLDED WOMAN
Then have a kiss on account.
She kisses him laughingly and takes the blindfold off the reveal a
stunning beauty: KATRINA VAN TASSEL. She smiles. Ichabod tries to
compose himself, stricken by the sight of her.
ICHABOD
I... um, I am looking for Baltus Van
Tassel.
KATRINA
I am his daughter, Katrina Van
Tassel.
BROM
And who are you, friend? We have not
heard your name yet.
ICHABOD
I have not said it. Excuse me...
Brom grabs Ichabod's collar. Ichabod's baffled.
BROM
You need some manners.
KATRINA
Brom!
MAN'S VOICE (O.S.)
(admonishing)
Come, come -- we want no raised
voices...
We now SEE that the voice belongs to BALTUS VAN TASSEL, a working-
class self-made Mr. Big with a sympathetic smile.
BALTUS (CONT'D)
It is only to raise the spirits
during this dark time that I and my
good wife are giving this little
party...
LADY VAN TASSEL stands behind him, a mix of homespun wife and well-
kept lady. Brom releases Ichabod. Children hide behind Katrina.
Ichabod's relieved to have a proper focal point. Others from the party
gather.
BALTUS (CONT'D)
Young sir, you are welcome even if
you are selling something!
The 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 an effect. A man we will know as MAGISTRATE PHILIPSE
looks up sharply. A man we will know as REVEREND STEENWYCK grunts
skeptically. A man we have already seen, DOCTOR LANCASTER, exchanges a
surprised look with another man, NOTARY HARDENBROOK.
STEENWYCK
(rudely)
Well, what use is a Constable?!
Lady Van Tassel gives the Clergyman a reproachful look.
LADY VAN TASSEL
Then, Sleepy Hollow is grateful to
you, Constable Crane -- I hope you
will honor this house by remaining
with us until...
BROM
Until you've made the arrest!
To Ichabod's surprise this gets a nervous laugh. Baltus frowns at Brom.
Katrina looks at Ichabod with renewed interest.
BALTUS
(to his wife)
Well spoke!
(to Ichabod)
Come, sir. We'll get you settled.
(to the Musicians)
Play on!
Baltus catches the eyes of Philipse, then of Lancaster, nodding as if
to say "See you in a minute."
As he leads Ichabod out, he murmurs to Steenwyck, who nods and passes
the murmur to Hardenbrook.
The Fiddlers strike up the music. Katrina watches Ichabod's exit. Brom
watches Katrina's interest with displeasure.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, ICHABOD'S ROOM -- NIGHT
We HEAR the music from downstairs. Ichabod is unpacking -- arranging
his scientific books. His "medical case," revealing a few mysterious
Instruments of Detections, is open on the bed. Sarah is just
delivering a pitcher of water to the washstand.
ICHABOD
Thank you. Please tell Mr. Van
Tassel I will be down in a moment.
SARAH
I will, sir.
(then -- as she leaves)
Thank God you are here!
Ichabod is a bit surprised by her emotion. Then he pours the water and
douses his face.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, PARLOR -- NIGHT
FIVE MEN wait grimly for Ichabod, silent in the presence of Sarah, who
is placing a pipe cradle by Baltus. Lady Van Tassel is pouring the men
a drink. The music from the party is faintly audible. Lancaster is 50,
dour, always sweaty. Philipse is youngest, a drinker, eyes bloodshot,
augmenting his glass with a shot from his private flask. Reverend
Steenwyck has a disdainful, sour expression. Hardenbrook is oldest,
ancient, nervous, one eye pale and blind.
HARDENBROOK
All the way from New York!
DOCTOR LANCASTER
A waste of time!
STEENWYCK
(to Baltus)
What can he do?
BALTUS
(calmingly)
Gentlemen, gentlemen...
Sarah, leaving, passes Doctor Lancaster, who secretly trails his hand
against Sarah's buttock... not quite secretly enough for the vigilance
of Lady Van Tassel, who, by the merest flick of an eye, shows us that
she has noticed.
Sarah leaves just as Ichabod appears in the doorway, Sarah closing the
door behind him.
BALTUS (CONT'D)
(to Ichabod)
Excellent! Come in!
(to his wife)
Leave us, my dear.
ICHABOD
So. Three persons murdered. First,
Peter Van Garrett and his son Dirk
Van Garrett, both of them strong
capable men, found together,
decapitated. A week later, the Widow
Winship, also decapitated. I will
need to ask you many questions, but
first let me ask -- is anyone
suspected?
BALTUS
I don't understand you.
ICHABOD
I say, is there any one person
suspect in these acts?
The men stir in their seats -- their looks say "I told you so!" --
"Useless!" -- etc.
BALTUS
Constable... how much have your
superiors explained to you?
ICHABOD
Only that the three were slain in
open ground and their heads found
severed from their bodies...
STEENWYCK
The heads were not found severed.
The heads were not found at all.
ICHABOD
The heads are gone?
Hardenbrook leans forward, his voice cragged.
HARDENBROOK
Taken. Taken by the Headless
Horseman. Taken back to hell.
ICHABOD
Pardon me, I... ?
BALTUS
Perhaps you had better sit down.
Baltus gestures for Ichabod to sit. Baltus lights his pipe and pours a
glass for Ichabod. The men help themselves to food and drink.
BALTUS (CONT'D)
The Horseman was a Hessian
mercenary, sent to our shores by
German princes to keep Americans
under the yoke of England. But
unlike his compatriots who came for
money, the Horseman came... for love
of carnage... and he was not like the
others...
FLASHBACK -- AMERICAN BATTLEFIELD (WINTER) -- DAY
The HESSIAN HORSEMAN rides his black steed into a gory, close-quarters
clash, his cloaked uniform adorned with edged weapons. He cuts down
Americans left and right.
BALTUS (V.O.)
He rode a giant black steed named
Daredevil. He was infamous for
taking his horse hard into battle...
chopping off heads at full gallop.
The Horseman dismounts, hoists a battle axe. With sword and axe, he
annihilates. Blood gushes. Bones crack.
BALTUS (CONT'D; V.O.)
To look upon him made your blood run
cold, for he had filed down his
teeth to sharp points... to add to
the ferocity of his appearance...
The Horseman lets out a war cry. Jagged teeth. Grotesque.
FLASHBACK -- FOREST BATTLEFIELD (WINTER) -- DAY
Winter. CANNONS can be HEARD BOOMING from afar. Daredevil, galloping
is hit and falls. The Horseman is not hurt.
BALTUS (V.O.)
This butcher would not finally meet
his end till the winter of seventy-
nine...
The Horseman rises, eyes filled with rage, looks to see...
SIX ragtag REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIERS give chase, firing rifles. The
Horseman flees, bullets throwing snow behind.
BALTUS (CONT'D)
... not far from here in our Western
Woods...
FLASHBACK -- DEEPER IN THE FOREST BATTLEFIELD (WINTER) -- DAY
The Horseman glances back, bounding through, drawing his sword, when
suddenly he halts...
He's happened upon TWO YOUNG GIRLS gathering firewood. The girls stand
frozen at the sight of him for a long, silent moment, till one girl
drops the firewood and runs.
The second girl remains, holding the Horseman's gaze.
The Horseman and the girl hold each other's gaze for a long beat.
The Horseman puts his finger to his lips, warning her to stay quiet.
The girl takes one of her pieces of dry wood and deliberately breaks
it, making a noise like a pistol shot.
There is a responding shout from a soldier back in the trees. The
Horseman turns to the sound.
Soldiers move forward from the forest behind, spreading out.
The second girl flees. The Horseman hefts his sword, turning as
soldiers surround. One soldier aims his rifle...
The Horseman reaches over his shoulder, grasps a sheathed knife and
THROWS --
THOCK! The rifleman jerks back, knife in his eye socket.
A second soldier aims and FIRES... Blood explodes from the Horseman's
arm. His sword drops.
The Horseman readies and AXE in his good hand. The Revolutionaries
move in with swords. They battle, STEEL AGAINST STEEL. The Horseman
fends off blows...
Soldier Three stabs his blade deep into the Horseman's side. The
Horseman roars, bringing his axe DOWN...
BREAKS the sword at the hilt. An UPWARD stroke sends Soldier Three
backward in a fountain of blood.
The Horseman staggers, trying to pull the blade from his ribs. The
remaining soldiers close in...
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, PARLOR -- NIGHT
Ichabod is spooked. Pipe smoke wafts from Baltus's mouth.
BALTUS
They cut off his head with his own
sword. To this day, the Western
Woods is a haunted place where brave
men will not venture.
FLASHBACK -- EXT. WESTERN WOODS, TREE OF THE DEAD AREA (WINTER) -- DAY
The Horseman's headless corpse lies in a shallow grave.
BALTUS (V.O.)
... for what was planted in the
ground that day was a seed of evil.
The HORSEMAN'S HEAD is dropped into the grave.
FLASHBACK -- EXT. WESTERN WOODS, TREE OF THE DEAD AREA (WINTER) -- LATER
DAY
One of the four surviving soldiers stabs the HORSEMAN'S SWORD deep in
the ground as a marker.
The grave is done. The soldiers walk away from the grave. They have
buried the Horseman in a treeless clearing.
Daredevil appears, limping, from the trees, and puts his nose down to
the turned earth.
The Second Girl is watching from hiding.
She sees: Daredevil collapses on the grave, blood frothing from his
mouth. Dying.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, PARLOR -- NIGHT
BALTUS
And so it has been for twenty years.
But now the Hessian wakes -- he is
on the rampage, cutting off heads
where he finds them.
Ichabod sits back, shakes off the reverie of the tale. He takes a gulp
from his glass.
ICHABOD
Are you... saying... ? Is that what
you believe?
HARDENBROOK
Seeing is believing!
Baltus puts a calming hand on senile Hardenbrook's shoulder.
DOCTOR LANCASTER
No one knows why the Hessian has
chosen this time to return from the
grave.
STEENWYCK
Satan has called forth one of his
own.
Steenwyck stands and from a side table picks up the hefty Baltus
family Bible.
STEENWYCK (CONT'D)
They tell me you have brought books
and trappings of scientific
investigation -- this is the only
book I recommend you study.
He drops the Bible on the table in front of Ichabod, making him jump.
Ichabod gingerly lifts the front cover -- revealing a page of ink
writing, which he will remember later -- then he snaps out of all this
"nonsense."
ICHABOD
Reverend Steenwyck... gentlemen...
murder needs no ghost come from the
grave. Which of you have laid eyes
on this Headless Horsemen?
Pause.
HARDENBROOK
Others have. Many others.
Ichabod allows himself a skeptical smile.
BALTUS
You will see him too if he comes
again. The men of the village are
posted to watch for him.
ICHABOD
We have murders in New York without
benefit of ghouls and goblins.
BALTUS
You are a long way from New York,
sir.
ICHABOD
A century at least. The assassin is
a man of flesh and blood, and I will
discover him.
STEENWYCK
How do you propose to do so?
ICHABOD
By discovering his reason. It is
what we call "the motive." This
mystery will not resist
investigation by a Rational Man.
Ichabod's natural clumsiness, however, causes him to sweep his empty
glass off the table, rather ruining the effect of the Rational Man in
command of the situation.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, KATRINA'S ROOM -- NIGHT
Katrina is sitting in front of her mirror. Lady Van Tassel is brushing
out Katrina's hair, counting the strokes.
KATRINA
Well, I'm disappointed... our first
visitor from New York...
There is a knock.
KATRINA (CONT'D)
He doesn't know where to put himself
and his feet are all over the place.
Lady Van Tassel gives Katrina the hairbrush and goes to the door.
LADY VAN TASSEL
Yes, not like your Brom. Go on
brushing, I got to forty-two...
She opens the door to Sarah.
SARAH
That constable, he wants the Bible,
Mum...
LADY VAN TASSEL
Bible... ?
KATRINA
I'll bring it to him.
Sarah dips a curtsy and goes. Lady Van Tassel gives Katrina a friendly
raised eyebrow.
KATRINA (CONT'D)
(meeting her eye,
explains)
We'll see if his city talk fits him
better than his clothes.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, ICHABOD'S ROOM -- NIGHT
Ichabod sits surrounded by his books, including his Ledger. Clearly
there has been no breakthrough. Ichabod broods. There is a knock at
the door, which he seems to have been expecting, for he does not turn
around.
ICHABOD
Yes -- yes -- come in.
Katrina enters carrying the Bible.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
(not turning)
Thank you, just leave it on the
reading stand.
Katrina puts down the Bible as directed.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
That will be all -- no, tell me,
about that big brute who seems to be
Miss Katrina's --
He has turned in his chair, too late, and sees Katrina -- Ichabod has
a minor convulsion, standing up, knocking papers to the floor, etc.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
Forgive me, I... I asked Sarah to
bring me...
KATRINA
(amused, relaxed)
So your clever books have failed you
and you turn to the Bible after all!
ICHABOD
(sharply, despite
himself)
I see I am talked about downstairs.
KATRINA
In passing only -- we have many
things to talk about even in this
backward place.
ICHABOD
I am sorry... Please excuse my
manner -- I am not used to...
KATRINA
Female company?
ICHABOD
Society.
KATRINA
How can you avoid society in New
York? How I should love the opera --
and theaters -- to go dancing... Is
it wonderful?
ICHABOD
I have never been.
KATRINA
But there is an art museum? -- a
concert hall?
ICHABOD
I don't know.
KATRINA
(disappointed)
Then you have nothing to teach me.
ICHABOD
Perhaps I have. Do you believe the
Van Garretts and the Widow Winship
were murdered by a headless
horseman?
KATRINA
Not everyone here believes it is the
Horseman.
ICHABOD
(relieved)
Good.
KATRINA
Some say it is the witch of the
Western Woods who has made a pact
with Lucifer.
ICHABOD
(exasperated)
There are no witches, or galloping
ghosts either! Is everyone in this
village in thrall to superstition?
KATRINA
Why are you so frightened of magic?
Not all magic is black. There are
ancient truths in these woods which
have been forgotten in your city
parks.
ICHABOD
If they are truths they are not
magic -- and if magic, not truth.
KATRINA
You are foolish. When there is fever
in the house, it is well known that
willow-herb roots and a crow's foot
must be boiled in the milk of a pure
white goat with special charms
uttered over the fire... and the
fever abates.
ICHABOD
Next time try the herb without the
rest -- and now I must ask you --
excuse me --
KATRINA
Gladly. I should not have interrupted
our town's savior. Good night. And
as to your first question, that big
brute you were asking about has
proposed to me.
ICHABOD
I... I... I'm happy that...
KATRINA
Proposed to me several times.
This ambiguous statement, accompanied by a faint smile, confuses
Ichabod into silence as she closes the door behind her. He turns with
relief to the next business -- the Bible. He opens the front cover. On
the endpaper is a Family Tree going back a hundred years, in variously
faded inks and handwritings.
Ichabod studies it and we see what he learns: that Katrina was born in
1777... to Baltus's first wife, who died in 1797... that Lady Van Tassel
is Baltus's second wife (her maiden name is unimportant, because
false)... Then he suddenly notices something even more interesting:
The family tree has a "Van Garrett" in it -- the husband of Baltus's
father's sister.
ICHABOD
(mutters)
Van Garrett... !
Ichabod looks thoughtful. He starts copying out details into his
Ledger.
A very faint rumbling disturbs him for a moment. He looks up. Silence
now. He continues working.
EXT. SLEEPY HOLLOW -- NIGHT
The empty street.
Then the low sinister sound of rumbling is heard again.
EXT. WOODEN BUNKER / FIELD -- INTERCUT -- NIGHT
The distant SOUND of the GROUND RUMBLING is HEARD. AT THE WOODEN
BUNKER, Jonathan looks out, fearful...
The torches burn bright along the forest line. SEVERAL DEER stampede
out... sprinting across the field.
Jonathan watches the forest. A horrible, SILENT stillness has fallen.
Then, Jonathan's eyes widen...
A thick FOG creeps from the woods.
As fog overtakes each torch, mist snakes up, snuffing each flame... one
by one by one, all along the forest edge...
Jonathan sticks his rifle out from the bunker, sights the gun along
the treeline.
JONATHAN
Come out, devil... come...
EXT. SLEEPY HOLLOW FORESTS, OVERVIEW -- NIGHT
Silhouetted treetops. The SOUNDS of JONATHAN'S RIFLE FIRING are HEARD,
echoing -- SEVERAL GUNSHOTS, then... SILENCE...
EXT. SLEEPY HOLLOW FOREST -- NIGHT
Jonathan flees through the forest, glances back, terrified. THUNDEROUS
HOOFBEATS are HEARD from behind.
DEEP IN THE FOREST, we GLIMPSE the source of the HOOFBEATS: a HUGE
FORM on a HUGE BLACK HORSE, already gone.
Jonathan pushes through thorny bushes. Jagged branches bloody his
hands and cheeks...
He bursts from the brier patch and TUMBLES to a TRAIL.
IN THE FOREST BEHIND: The hooves of the black horse rip underbrush.
HOOFBEATS DEAFENING. A spur digs into the snorting steed's already
bleeding flank.
The pursuer's gloved hand draws a SWORD, blade RINGING.
ON THE TRAIL, Jonathan runs onward. The shrill WHISTLE of a SWORD
SWING is HEARD as the pursuer BLURS PAST...
Jonathan is still running when his head lolls back, at an impossible
angle... his head tumbles off his shoulders...
Jonathan's headless body hits the dirt.
EXT. SLEEPY HOLLOW -- DAY (EARLY MORNING)
People going about their business calmly. A WOMAN shakes out a blanket
from an upper window. The murder has obviously not been discovered
yet.
No one notices that the WOODEN BUNKER is deserted... and now has a gap
of shattered timber.
EXT/INT. LIVERY STABLE -- DAY (EARLY MORNING)
The stables belong to KILLIAN, a dashingly rustic man, father of a
young family. Ichabod likes him... though he does not think much of the
Horse Killian is offering him, an old nag. Ichabod has a big satchel.
KILLIAN
His name's Gunpowder.
ICHABOD
A brave name, but... have you got
something a little younger?...
Taller?
KILLIAN
(apparently getting it)
Faster.
ICHABOD
Yes.
KILLIAN
A horse cut to dash.
ICHABOD
Yes.
KILLIAN
No, I haven't.
ICHABOD
Oh.
KILLIAN
Not at the price.
ICHABOD
Well... I'm sure he'll do very well.
Thank you, Mr. Killian.
KILLIAN
Good luck, sir. If you need help,
call my name.
ICHABOD
Much appreciated.
Killian's son Thomas, a small boy, is feeding one of the horses.
ANGLE ON Mrs. KILLIAN at the door of the Killian House. She is in the
act of seeing a woman out of her door, a PREGNANT WOMAN, and handing
her a bunch of herbs.
CLOSER
BETH
(to Pregnant Woman)
Mind you rub them well in the
breech, Mrs. Sherry -- don't worry,
it'll be easy as shelling peas.
As the Pregnant Woman leaves, Beth bawls over her shoulder, turning to
go into the house.
BETH (CONT'D)
Thomas! -- It's you I want!
Beth goes into the house, passing a modest notice on the door: "Knock
before entering -- Elizabeth Killian, MIDWIFE"
KILLIAN
(to Thomas)
Go off home for your breakfast, Tom
-- kiss your mother once for you and
twice for me.
As the boy goes, Ichabod has a thought.
ICHABOD
Mr. Killian, I was thinking... about
the old widow...
KILLIAN
Old Widow?
ICHABOD
Widow Winship.
KILLIAN
Who told you she was old? She was
comely. Widowed young and dead
before the bloom was off her.
Ichabod is surprised. Before he can react further, a distant gunshot
is heard -- a signal followed by the distant sight of a man on
horseback, hurrying and shouting, waving his rifle. It's clear that
Masbath's murder has been discovered. Killian and Ichabod watch the
Rider coming, telling the news as he comes.
RIDER
(shouting)
Murder, murder! The Horseman has
killed again!
EXT. SLEEPY HOLLOW FARMLAND -- DAY
Riders are galloping across the fields toward the murder site.
Baltus, a Dullardly Man called VAN RIPPER, who was the original Rider
who found the body... followed by Brom, and a gig driven fast by
Philipse, and Doctor Lancaster and various villagers.
Way behind, trying to keep up on Gunpowder, comes Ichabod.
EXT. FOREST, MASBATH MURDER SITE -- MORNING
Baltus takes charge of posting armed villagers to keep an eye out
toward the forest.
BALTUS
Mr. Miller -- ride back for the
coffin cart -- the rest of you keep
a sharp lookout.
(to GLEN)
No -- not at me, Glen, I'm not going
to cut my own head off! -- Look out
to the woods!
Ichabod hasn't quite arrived. The others are watching as Doctor
Lancaster turns over the headless corpse of Masbath. He straightens
the body reverently. Everyone is shocked and spooked, looking
fearfully around. Behind them -- a sound. Everyone reacts but it's
Ichabod arriving.
BROM
(laughs)
A fine looking animal, Crane.
Ichabod dismounts, ignoring Brom. The great Detective is trying to
cover up his jitters. New York was never like this.
DOCTOR LANCASTER
The fourth victim, Jonathan Masbath.
ICHABOD
And... the head... ?
PHILIPSE
Taken.
ICHABOD
Taken!
Doctor Lancaster seems unprofessionally jittery. He grasps Philipse by
the arm. Philipse shakes him off and pulls out a flask. Ichabod
notices this. Their behavior seems to him to be an odd moment. Then he
turns his attention back to the matter at hand.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
Interesting... very interesting.
BALTUS
What is?
ICHABOD
In headless corpse cases of this
sort... the head is removed to
prevent identification of the body.
BALTUS
(puzzled)
But we know this is Jonathan
Masbath...
ICHABOD
Exactly! So, why was the head
removed?
They all wait for enlightenment.
BALTUS
Why?
ICHABOD
I don't know.
They all watch Ichabod to see what he will do. Philipse takes nips
from his flask. But Ichabod isn't sure. He isn't too keen on looking
at the corpse. Then he realizes:
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
You have moved the body?
DOCTOR LANCASTER
I did.
ICHABOD
(furious)
You must never move the body!
DOCTOR LANCASTER
Why not?
ICHABOD
Because!
Despite themselves, they are impressed. Ichabod takes heart.
Ichabod finds a huge, deep HOOFPRINT. He kneels, pulls his satchel off
his shoulder, takes out a BOWL, BOTTLE of WATER and a BAG of POWDER.
The others watch, finding this bizarre, as Ichabod begins mixing the
water and powder, making plaster.
BROM
What is that potion?
ICHABOD
You are the blacksmith, Brom. Ever
shoe a horse with a hoof this large?
Ichabod fills the print with runny plaster.
BROM
(grudging the point)
It's big.
Ichabod shoulders his satchel, walks all around, studies the ground,
kicks away leaves... and then lopes around puzzlingly. The watchers are
astonished by his antics as he leaps from hoofprint to hoofprint.
DOCTOR LANCASTER
(to Philipse)
The man's a fool.
PHILLIPSE
(drunk)
He's a fool and we're damn fools --
but death will make us all equal.
Doctor Lancaster impatiently hushes him and turns away.
ICHABOD
The stride is gigantic...
Ichabod stops, turns, following back to way he came...
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
The attacker rode Masbath down...
turned his horse... came back...
(stops leaping)
Came back to claim the head.
He pauses to sum up.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
To sum up. Head taken. Big horse.
(beat)
Did this man have any enemies?
PHILIPSE
Well, someone didn't like him.
But Ichabod has already latched on to something.
ICHABOD
Van Ripper, show me where the neck
rested.
Van Ripper points. Ichabod opens his satchel, takes out a BOTTLE OF
GREEN POWDER.
He uncorks the bottle, sprinkles a thin layer of powder on the dirt,
waiting.
A reaction causes the powder to bubble a little.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
A chemical reaction, it shows there
was just a smear of blood, no more.
VAN RIPPER
I didn't see none.
Ichabod's puzzled.
Ichabod swallows, queasy, trying not to let it show.
Ichabod takes odd spectacles from his satchel, wire-framed with many
lenses: MAGNIFICATION SPECTACLES. He fumbles putting them on,
examines the gross neck wound.
Ichabod takes an INSTRUMENT from his satchel, a delicate SCISSOR
MECHANISM TOOL that tapes off into tiny jaws. He uses it, hand
shaking, to pick at the flesh.
POV through Ichabod's magnifying spectacles: a CREEPY CRAWLY BUG is
feeding on the wound. Ichabod freaks, leaps up.
ICHABOD
(recovering, faking)
Interesting...
BALTUS
What is it? -- What is it?!
Squinting sidelong at the ground, Ichabod uses his foot to squash and
grind the bug, which is too small to be visible.
He looks at Baltus, his eyes huge in his spectacles.
ICHABOD
The wound was cauterized in the very
instant... as though the blade itself
were red hot... and yet, no
blistering, no scorched flesh.
They all look worried.
PHILIPSE
The Devil's fire!
Ichabod looks worried too.
EXT. CEMETERY -- DAY
The town is gathered for Jonathan Masbath's funeral. Steenwyck stands
at the open grave, reads from the BIBLE.
STEENWYCK
(reading)
"Be sober, be vigilant... " as it
sayeth in the book of Peter, chapter
five, verse eight -- "because your
adversary the devil, as a roaring
lion, walketh about, seeking whom he
may devour... "
People WHISPER and steal glances at Ichabod. Ichabod stands with
Baltus and Lady Van Tassel. Ichabod looks around, observing...
Young Masbath stands with his head bowed.
Brom stands beside Katrina, who wipes tears. Brom puts his arm around
Katrina, comforting. Theodore and Glenn are nearby with rifles over
their shoulders.
EXT. CEMETERY/CHURCH -- (TIME CUT) -- LATER DAY
The funeral is done. People head out from the cemetery.
Ichabod walks with the Van Tassels. Baltus holds Katrina's hand. Young
Masbath runs to catch up with Ichabod.
YOUNG MASBATH
Mister Constable, sir...
Ichabod stops.
ICHABOD
You are Young Masbath...
YOUNG MASBATH
I was Young Masbath, but now the
only one. Masbath at your service,
in honor bound to avenge my father.
ICHABOD
Well, one-and-only Masbath, I thank
you, but your mother will need you
more than I.
YOUNG MASBATH
My mother is in heaven, sir, and has
my father now to care for her. But
you have no one to serve you, and I
am your man, sir.
ICHABOD
And a brave man too, but I cannot be
the one to look after you. I am
sorry for your loss, young Mister
Masbath.
Ichabod moves away, watched disconsolately by Masbath.
Ichabod finds his sleeve furtively plucked by Philipse.
PHILIPSE
Constable...
ICHABOD
Mr. Philipse... ?
Philipse looks around anxiously to see if they're observed.
PHILIPSE
Something you should know. Jonathan
Masbath was not the fourth victim
but the fifth!
ICHABOD
The fifth?
PHILIPSE
Aye. Five victims in four graves!
ICHABOD
But who... ?
Philipse sees that Steenwyck has noticed the encounter. He breaks off
and scuttles away.
Ichabod turns his gaze toward...
The fresh grave of Jonathan Masbath, and three more graves almost as
recent: The Van Garretts are just receiving their brand new
headstones, and Widow Winship's grave is marked for the present by a
simple wooden cross with her name on it.
Ichabod sees Killian and nods to him.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
Mr. Killian... I will need the help
you offered.
INT. STABLE -- DAY
Ichabod lifts the lid of a large feed bin half full of horse feed.
Young Masbath is curled up inside like a mouse in a nest. Homeless.
ICHABOD
Find a place in the Van Tassel's
servant quarters. Wake me before
dawn. I hope you have a strong
stomach.
Ichabod walks away, disgruntled.
YOUNG MASBATH
Thank you, sir.
EXT. CEMETERY -- NIGHT/DAWN
The lid of a muddy coffin is wrenched open. The coffin contains a
headless corpse. Just the one.
What's happening?
The coffin is on the ground next to the hole marked by the headstone
of Peter Van Garrett.
Killian holds a lantern and a spade. Ichabod, holding a handkerchief
to his face, looks into the open coffin. He nods. Ichabod, in
shirtsleeves and sweating, has a spade too. Young Masbath is watching
uneasily. This is why Young Masbath would need a "strong stomach." He
gags, almost pukes.
At Ichabod's nod, Killian replaces the lid. Killian has Two Men with
him. There are two more coffins and two more piles of dirt, one coffin
for Dirk Van Garrett and one for Widow Winship.
Ichabod moves to the second coffin. It contains a headless corpse.
Just the one. Ichabod nods, and the lid is replaced.
The third coffin -- the Widow's -- is being opened by one of the Men.
Ichabod takes a lantern and looks expectantly as the lid comes off.
The Widow's headless corpse is alone in the coffin.
Ichabod pauses. Nods. As the lid is about to be replaced. He stops it.
ICHABOD
Wait.
Ichabod takes out a small penknife and cuts through the shroud. He
reveals the belly. He stares at it. Was she pregnant? It's impossible
to tell. But there is the wound of a sword stab in the stomach.
Suddenly there is a screech, which seems to come from the corpse,
giving heart attacks all around -- but now we see a "ghost" holding a
lantern. It's Reverend Steenwyck who has discovered them and is
shrieking in outrage.
STEENWYCK
Sacrilege! Sacrilege!
Ichabod recovers.
ICHABOD
Science... science, Reverend
Steenwyck! Someone in Sleepy Hollow
is using the Horseman story for his
own murderous purpose, and I intend
to... dig it out.
Steenwyck froths, looks terrified and backs off.
INT. DOCTOR'S RESIDENCE, MEDICAL ROOM -- DAY
Ichabod and Killian, helped by Young Masbath, carry the Widow's muddy
coffin inside. Doctor Lancaster watches in horror, sweating profusely,
freaked out.
DOCTOR LANCASTER
This is... most irregular, Constable.
ICHABOD
I should hope so. But in this case,
necessary.
The coffin is put down.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
I will need to operate.
DOCTOR LANCASTER
Operate? She's dead!
ICHABOD
(thrown)
When we say "operate," we mean, of
course... er, I'll need the operating
table. Lay her out, please.
(to Young Masbath)
Go on, nothing to be afraid of.
When Killian and Young Masbath lay out the corpse, Ichabod gulps water
and studies the pages of his Ledger.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
There is a common thread between
these victims.
DOCTOR LANCASTER
And what's that?
ICHABOD
(closing the Ledger)
I don't know.
He goes to examine the corpse. Young Masbath retreats to a corner, ill
at ease.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
Once more, the neck wound
cauterized. The sword thrust to the
stomach, the same, perhaps by
chemical means. But to what purpose?
Ichabod gingerly feels the corpse's stomach. The Doctor watches. We
get the feeling he "knows something."
DOCTOR LANCASTER
To what is your purpose, is the
question.
Ichabod takes a rolled VELVET CLOTH from his satchel, unrolls it... it
holds SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS, some particularly strange: RIB-SPEADERS
and CURVED CLAMPS.
DOCTOR LANCASTER (CONT'D)
What manner of instruments are
those?
ICHABOD
Some of my own design.
Ichabod picks through his instruments, unsure. He looks to the corpse
a long moment. He looks at Young Masbath.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
Step outside. Thank you for your
help, Mr. Killian. And, if you do
not mind, Doctor, my concentration
suffers when I am observed.
Ichabod watches Killian, Young Masbath and Lancaster go. He quickly
returns to his satchel, pulling out a BOOK: HUMAN ANATOMY. He searches
the pages...
He flips through DRAWINGS of ANATOMY, then sets the book open nearby
so he can refer to it. He picks up a KNIFE, stands at the corpse,
taking a deep uncertain breath.
Ichabod cuts into the Widow's belly, but stops, looking horrified at
what he's done. He leans close to study the book again, worried. He
makes another incision... He looks down at it, queasy.
EXT. DOCTOR'S RESIDENCE -- DAY
Young Masbath sits waiting.
Doctor Lancaster stands with Philipse (hung over), Steenwyck and
Hardenbrook, speaking agitatedly. OTHER PEOPLE have gathered in the
background.
The door to the doctor's residence opens and Ichabod steps out. He is
bloodied, shaken, futilely wiping at the mess with a blood-covered
cloth, looking up...
All attention goes to Ichabod. Everyone's horrified.
ICHABOD
I am... finished.
STEENWYCK
What in God's name have you done to
her?
(pointing)
Magistrate Philipse, you are the
word of law here... put him in irons!
Philipse and Ichabod exchange a look. Philipse nips from his flask.
PHILIPSE
And what did you find out,
Constable?
ICHABOD
That there are not four victims but
five. The Widow Winship was with
child!
The small crowd murmurs, shocked. Doctor Lancaster recovers, furious.
DOCTOR LANCASTER
What of it? She should have been
left to make her peace with God and
not cut to bits by the Constabulary!
Ichabod is shaken for a moment, remembering the similar charge made
against him in New York.
ICHABOD
The sword was thrust into the womb
and no farther. A symbolic murder.
We are dealing with a madman.
EXT. LONG STRAIGHT ROAD, COVERED BRIDGE -- LATER NIGHT
Pale moonlight. Ichabod rides Gunpowder across the COVERED BRIDGE.
They are an ungainly pair.
Following the road, Ichabod is lost in thought. The CLOPPING of
HOOFBEATS is HEARD on the bridge behind.
Ichabod turns to look. HOOFBEATS STOP. No one can be seen in the dark
mouth of the bridge. CRICKETS CHIRP.
ICHABOD
Who's there?
Ichabod faces forward, continuing to the forest.
He hums a tune to himself, tone deaf. After a moment, a HORSE is HEARD
SNORTING, HOOFBEATS RESUME. Ichabod stops Gunpowder.
There is SOMEONE back there, on horseback, coming out from the
darkness of the bridge, slowly...
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
Who are you?
The FIGURE comes into moonlight, on a BLACK HORSE, smoke seeming to
rise from him; a dark FIGURE, cloaked -- headless.
Ichabod panics, kicking Gunpowder to flee. The figure takes off to
follow.
Ichabod whips Gunpowder's reins, gasping, moving faster. The figure
behind also picks up speed.
EXT. SLEEPY HOLLOW FOREST -- NIGHT
Gunpowder carries Ichabod into the forest. The headless figure is
right behind, cloak flowing...
The HEADLESS FIGURE is HEARD letting out a hellish CRY of rage.
Ichabod glances fearfully over his shoulder...
A HORRIBLE FACE with flaming eyes and mouth rushes forward...
It SMASHES into Ichabod -- sends him sprawling to the ground in an
explosion of red hot ash and cinders...
Ichabod rolls, shaken... looking behind. The trail is empty. HOOFBEATS
are HEARD. SEVERAL HORSES.
Ichabod stands. He looks down at the remnants of a BROKEN JACK-O'-
LANTERN and smoldering ball of paper on the trail.
The FIGURE rides to a halt, throws off a cloak and "headless"
disguise; it's Brom. Glenn and Theodore ride up, laughing.
Brom also laughs, but when he looks back, the smile leaves his face.
He takes grim satisfaction in what he's done.
Ichabod's face is haunted, running with the sweat of fear -- he is
still trembling from the experience.
FEMALE VOICE (V.O.)
Ichabod! Ichabod!
And suddenly we are pitched into Ichabod's DREAM.
ICHABOD'S DREAM -- EXT. COTTAGE -- DAY
FEMALE VOICE (V.O.)
Ichabod! Ichabod... !
A woman is in the doorway, holding out her arms. She seems to be
Katrina as Ichabod first saw her, blindfolded.
A YOUNG BOY, aged about seven, runs toward her, with a little bunch of
wildflowers.
ICHABOD'S DREAM -- YOUNG ICHABOD'S KITCHEN -- NIGHT
The Blindfolded Woman is playing the Pickety Witch Game with Ichabod.
He is laughing -- scared as she grabs the air looking for him. He is
holding the wildflowers he picked. She seizes him, kisses him and
takes off the blindfold. It's not Katrina, but his Mother, a kind and
lovely face. He gives his Mother the flowers. She puts one of the
flowers in her hair, laughing. But the others -- she throws on the
fire! -- and she crouches at the hearthstone, beckoning him, still
"nice." He comes to her, not scared.
As the flowers burn, they give off smoky fumes, which the Mother
inhales like perfume, closing her eyes in a trance. He watches
fascinated as she picks up a twig and starts drawing pictures --
strange designs -- in the layer of ash on the hearthstone.
Suddenly Ichabod turns his head to the door, which is opening --
spooky because no one is entering. Then he sees at floor level the
family CAT has come through the door. A black cat with a white paw.
Ichabod's Mother is "awakened" by this, just in time as Father, a grim
Parson all in black, enters.
Ichabod looks up frightened at the face of his Father.
ICHABOD'S DREAM -- YOUNG ICHABOD'S BEDROOM -- NIGHT
The Cat is on Ichabod's bed... watching Mother who is entertaining
Ichabod with the Bird-in-Cage Spinning Disc Toy, which we will get to
know.
Ichabod is tucked up in bed, astonished and happy. The Bird and Cage
blur together.
Lightning flashes outside a window, thunder booms, the storm bursts
open the window.
The Cat leaps off the bed, caught in lightning flash, the Toy drops,
tangled on the bed. Ichabod covers his face, scared; his Mother hugs
him.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, ICHABOD'S ROOM -- NIGHT
Ichabod is startled awake, frightened, sweating.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, KITCHEN -- NIGHT
Ichabod enters with a lantern and his Ledger. He sits, studies notes,
then notices a light down the hall.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, SEWING ROOM -- NIGHT
Ichabod enters. Opposite an elaborate LOOM, Katrina reads by
candlelight.
She looks up, and self-consciously closes her book, which we see is a
child's version of THE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE. She covers it on
her lap.
ICHABOD
Oh... pardon my intrusion... I saw a
light...
KATRINA
It is no intrusion... I come here to
read when I am wakeful.
ICHABOD
To read books which you must
hide... ?
KATRINA
They were my mother's books... my
father frowned at them then, and
would frown at me now. He believes
tales of romance caused the brain
fever that killed my mother. She
died two years ago come midwinter.
Ichabod nods.
ICHABOD
I saw it written in the front of the
Bible.
KATRINA
The nurse who cared for her during
her sickness is now Lady Van Tassel.
ICHABOD
There was something else too. Why
did no one think to mention that Van
Garretts are kith and kin to the Van
Tassels?
KATRINA
Why, because there is hardly a
household in Sleepy Hollow that is
not connected to every other by
blood or marriage. I have more
cousins than fingers and toes to
count them on.
A cock crows. Ichabod goes to the window to look at the edge of dawn.
ICHABOD
I see.
KATRINA
This land was Van Garrett Land,
given to my father when I was in
swaddling clothes.
ICHABOD
Given by the dead Van Garrett?
KATRINA
(nods)
The Van Garretts were the richest
family round these parts even then.
When my father brought us to Sleepy
Hollow, Van Garrett set him up with
an acre and a broken-down cottage,
and a dozen of Van Garrett hens. My
father prospered, and built us a new
house. I owe my happiness to him. I
remember living poor in the cottage.
Should I show you?
ICHABOD
Yes. I would like to see where you
were as poor as I am.
Katrina stands up, revealing a Book that had been on the floor, hidden
by her skirt. She picks up the book and gives it to Ichabod.
KATRINA
Take this. It is my gift for you.
Ichabod looks at the title page: A COMPENDIUM OF SPELLS, CHARMS AND
DEVICES OF THE SPIRIT WORLD.
ICHABOD
(troubled)
But I have no use for...
KATRINA
Are you so certain of everything?
Ichabod sees that Katrina's name is written on the endpaper, and, in a
different hand, her mother's name, "Elizabeth Van Tassel."
ICHABOD
It was your mother's... ?
KATRINA
Keep it close to your heart. It is
sure protection against harm.
ICHABOD
(smiles)
Are you so certain of everything?
Their eyes meet and hold for a moment. Ichabod accepts the book by
placing it on the desk.
EXT. FIELDS -- DAY (EARLY MORNING)
Ichabod and Katrina make a pretty picture on horseback, riding slowly
toward the cottage.
EXT. SLEEPY HOLLOW FARMLAND -- DAY (EARLY MORNING)
Ichabod and Katrina, riding, come upon the ruin of a cottage. There is
almost nothing left but the hearth and a part of a chimney.
Ichabod dismounts and helps Katrina down from her horse, taking her
hand.
Before he lets go, she notices the little scars on his palm. She takes
both his hands and looks at them.
KATRINA
These are strange... What are
they... ?
ICHABOD
I wish I knew. I had them since I
can remember.
Katrina holds his hands a moment longer, their eyes meet, then she
lets go and "enters" the ruin.
Ichabod's attention is caught by a red Cardinal on a branch, like the
bird he had in New York.
He reflects a moment, then turns to watch Katrina crouching by the
hearth. She has put a flower in her hair.
KATRINA
I used to play by this hearth. It
was my first drawing school and my
mother was my teacher.
Unwittingly, Katrina is mimicking Ichabod's dream. She picks up a twig
and starts "drawing" on the hearth stone. Like Ichabod's mother in his
dream.
Ichabod's blood runs cold but she is unaware of him. Then he notices
that a few small wildflowers are growing in the old fireplace. Ichabod
feels short of breath, he leans against the stones for support.
KATRINA (CONT'D)
Oh, look! I'd forgotten this! -- see
-- carved into the fire-back, the
Archer!
Using her fingers she cleans off the dirt around a simple carving of a
man with a Bow and Arrow.
KATRINA (CONT'D)
This was from long before we lived
here.
She turns to show Ichabod and notices him looking strange.
KATRINA (CONT'D)
Are you all right?
Ichabod nods, recovering, saying nothing.
Katrina is reassured. Suddenly her attention is caught, as Ichabod's
was, by the Cardinal bird.
KATRINA (CONT'D)
(pointing)
Oh, look! A Cardinal! My favorite! I
would love to have a tame one, but I
wouldn't have the heart to cage him.
Ichabod unslings his satchel.
ICHABOD
Then I have something for you.
He has a PAPER DISK with a BIRD on one side and an EMPTY CAGE on the
other, pierced by a looped string on which the disk can twist and
spin. He demonstrates like a magician. This is the very Toy given to
him by his Mother.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
A Cardinal on one side, and an empty
cage.
Katrina watches intently. Ichabod spins the Disk.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
And now...
The bird appears to be inside the cage.
Katrina is astonished and delighted.
KATRINA
You can do magic! Teach me!
ICHABOD
It is no magic. It is optics.
Ichabod gives her the Toy and shows her how to spin it.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
Separate pictures which become one
picture in the spinning... Like the
truth which I must spin here...
Katrina spins the disk, the bird appears in the cage.
EXT. PHILIPSE HOUSE -- NIGHT
A MOVING POV is checking out the Village House. Through lighted
windows, figures of Men are seen pacing, apparently arguing.
Philipse is packing his bags, moving out... while three Men, Steenwyck,
Doctor Lancaster and Hardenbrook, are in agitated conference. Their
raised voices make an undecipherable hubbub. The POV'S horse makes a
horsey snuffling sound. Is it Daredevil?
Steenwyck comes right to the window as if he has seen something... but
he merely closes the shutters.
The REVERSE shows that it is Ichabod who has been spying.
Ichabod backs off and mounts Gunpowder, looking thoughtful, then
determined.
EXT. ROAD OUTSIDE VILLAGE -- NIGHT
A Mounted Man is approaching on a heavily loaded Pack Horse... Philipse
making his getaway from Sleepy Hollow. As he reaches the foreground,
Ichabod on Gunpowder intercepts him, grabbing the bridle of the Pack
Horse.
PHILIPSE
What are you doing? Let go!
ICHABOD
What are you running from,
Magistrate Philipse?
PHILIPSE
Damn you, Crane --
ICHABOD
You'll raise the village.
Philipse calms down.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
You had a mind to help me.
PHILIPSE
Yes -- and I put myself in mortal
dread of...
ICHABOD
Of... what?
PHILIPSE
Powers against which there is no
defense.
ICHABOD
How did you know the widow was
expecting a child?
PHILIPSE
She told me.
ICHABOD
Then I deduce you are the father.
PHILIPSE
I hope your deductions serve you
better in your contest against the
Hessian. I am not the father.
ICHABOD
Did she tell you the name of the
child's father?
PHILIPSE
Yes -- she did. She came to me for
advice -- as the town magistrate --
Ichabod hears sounds... of sheep in agitation at some distance but he
holds Philipse to his story.
PHILIPSE (CONT'D)
-- to protect the rights of her
child. I was bound by my oath of
office to keep the secret --
ICHABOD
Do you believe the father killed
her?
PHILIPSE
(stares at him in
surprise)
The Horseman killed her! -- You damn
fool, do you suppose the Horseman
stops to impregnate our women?
ICHABOD
The Horseman? How often do I have to
tell you there is no Horseman! There
never was a Horseman! -- and there
never will be a Horseman!
Ichabod grabs him fiercely, pulling on the amulet Philipse wears
around his neck.
PHILIPSE
Let go! -- it is my talisman that
protects me from the Horseman!
ICHABOD
You a magistrate! -- and your head
full of such nonsense! Now tell me
the name of --
A flock of sheep comes streaming and bleating across the path.
The horses go crazy, BRAYING and rearing. A SOUND is HEARD, distant:
THUNDERING HOOFBEATS. Wind kicks up.
Philipse looks to the forest. A FLOCK of BIRDS alights.
PHILIPSE
Oh my... oh my oh my oh my...
PHILIPSE runs away. HOOFBEATS LOUDER, CLOSER. Ichabod faces the
forest.
The forest explodes open, foliage bending to make way as the HEADLESS
HORSEMAN gallops into view atop DAREDEVIL.
Ichabod's stunned. He looks down to draw his flintlock pistol, but the
Horseman ROARS by before he can raise it -- a blast of air knocks
Ichabod off his horse.
After this, everything happens very quickly --
The Horseman chases Philipse.
Philipse looks over his shoulder.
The Horseman draws his sword.
Philipse gathers his courage and stops, turning. He raises his iron
key talisman before him. The Horseman is closing...
ICHABOD
Philipse!
Philipse holds the talisman up, trying to be fearless. The Horseman
swings his sword upon the talisman -- CLANK...
Philipse's severed head spins. His body falls and folds.
The two pieces of Philipse's Talisman, an Iron Key, fly through the
air, toward Ichabod, who has only just managed to find his feet and
find his fallen pistol.
The Horseman turns Daredevil in a wide circle...
Daredevil completes the turn, letting out a SCREECHY CRY as the
Horseman rides straight toward Ichabod...
Before Ichabod has time to take aim, the Horseman is upon him and past
him! -- heading toward Philipse's corpse... leans effortlessly to
skewer Philipse's head with his sword.
With the head as his prize, the Horseman races away.
Ichabod turns, watches the Horseman head to the forest.
Ichabod stands, stricken. He faints.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, ICHABOD'S BEDROOM -- DAY
Ichabod gasps awake. A KNOCKING is HEARD.
BALTUS'S VOICE (O.S.)
Constable Crane... ?
Ichabod looks at his hand balled into a fist. He opens his hand --
holds BOTH HALVES of PHILIPSE'S IRON KEY TALISMAN.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, UPSTAIRS HALL 3RD FLOOR -- DAY
Young Masbath is seated by Ichabod's closed door. Katrina is backing
up Baltus, who knocks again.
BALTUS
Has he not come out at all?
Young Masbath shakes his head.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, ICHABOD'S ROOM -- DAY
Baltus enters. Katrina and Masbath follow him, cautiously, "visiting
the sick." Ichabod sits up in bed, stunned, spaced out.
ICHABOD
It was a Headless Horseman!
BALTUS
You must not excite yourself.
ICHABOD
But it was Headless Horseman!
BALTUS
Of course it was.
ICHABOD
No, you must believe me, it was
Horseman! A dead one! Headless!
BALTUS
I know, I know...
ICHABOD
You don't know because you weren't
there! But it's all true!
BALTUS
Of course it is. I told you!
Everyone told you!
ICHABOD
(wildly)
I saw him!
His eyes roll up and he faints. Katrina and Masbath look helplessly at
each other.
YOUNG MASBATH
I suppose it's back to the City,
then.
Katrina's reaction is mixed -- glad that Ichabod will be safe, sorry
if he leaves.
ICHABOD'S DREAM -- FOREST -- DAY
A MILLION WHITE MILKWEED SEEDLINGS are floating in sunlight. Young
Ichabod's laughter is heard.
Now we see that his Mother is blowing the seedlings for his delight.
She gives him a milkweed pod and shows him how to do it for himself.
Ichabod breaks the pod and releases another million. But when he looks
around to share the delight, his Mother has gone... and he sees her
disappearing among the trees. He goes to follow her.
ICHABOD'S DREAM -- FOREST GLADE -- DAY
Ichabod can't see his Mother anywhere...
Then he sees her standing in the middle of a CIRCLE OF BEAUTIFUL
TOADSTOOLS/MUSHROOMS growing in the Glade.
Ichabod watches as his Mother turns inside the Mushroom Circle, almost
dancing. He smiles. Then he sees his Mother stoop to pick a mushroom.
She eats it. She looks happy. She drops a small piece of the mushroom.
Ichabod sees it fall.
He runs forward and picks it up before she sees him. Ichabod eats it.
His Mother sees him, takes his hands in hers and dances around in a
circle.
As Ichabod whizzes around laughing, his POV becomes the Encircling
Trees whizzing around, and suddenly he seems to be surrounded by
Menacing Headless Figures dressed all in black.
Ichabod falls over dizzy and when he looks up he sees that the
Headless Figures have become his Father, watching his Mother
heedlessly dancing, his face like thunder. His Mother has loosened her
clothes and is virtually barebreasted.
His Father's eyes begin to glow like live coals as Ichabod cowers away
from him.
ICHABOD'S DREAM -- ICHABOD'S HOUSE -- NIGHT
Ichabod's eyes are spying... through a crack in the kitchen door.
When we see him properly, he is wearing a nightshirt. Then we see his
POV, into the kitchen.
ICHABOD'S DREAM -- YOUNG ICHABOD'S KITCHEN -- NIGHT
Mother is seated, her head down. Father paces, chastising Mother
angrily, his fist balled up in rage.
Father continues berating Mother. He picks up his Bible off the table,
waving it, then grabs Mother by the shoulders, forcing her to the
floor...
Father forces Mother to her knees. Mother is afraid, clasping her
hands in front of her as Father forces her to pray. Father starts
reading from the Bible. In Ichabod's dream, this is the same Bible
from Baltus's house.
ICHABOD'S DREAM -- YOUNG ICHABOD'S STAIRWELL -- NIGHT
Ichabod watches, afraid. He backs away, returning upstairs.
ICHABOD'S DREAM -- YOUNG ICHABOD'S BEDROOM -- NIGHT
A window is thrown CRASHING open, THUNDER BOOMING... Young Ichabod
sits up in his bed. He goes to close the window, RAIN pouring in. He
looks down...
ICHABOD'S DREAM -- EXT. YOUNG ICHABOD'S HOUSE -- NIGHT
Below, in front of the home, a MAN drags Mother toward a COACH. TWO
MEN stand watching, faces hidden under hat brims. Mother looks back,
eyes pleading, struggling...
Mother looks up to Young Ichabod.
The TWO MEN looks up to Young Ichabod: one is Father, and the THIRD
MAN is a Cotton Mather-ish man with a villainous face.
Young Ichabod reaches helplessly toward Mother.
Mother is forced into the coach.
The Third Man speaks to Father, then walks to the coach. He gets onto
the coach as the coach starts away.
Father watches, rain flowing down his stony features. LIGHTING
FLASHES... And we see the family Cat watching with glowing eyes.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE -- DAY
Ichabod's eyes as he opens them. He wakes, breathing heavily.
After a beat, he flings back the bedclothes and springs out of bed,
energized by a new determination.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, DOWNSTAIRS -- DAY
Baltus, Steenwyck, Doctor Lancaster and Notary Hardenbrook are having
another meeting, this time with Lady Van Tassel and Katrina on hand
with the drinks.
BALTUS
Right -- this time I'll go to New
York myself and I won't be fobbled
off with an amateur deductor.
HARDENBROOK
(correcting him)
Detector.
STEENWYCK
(correcting)
Deductive.
DOCTOR LANCASTER
(doubting)
No... no...
BALTUS
(rising above it)
An amateur sleuth! This time it's a
magistrate that's dead, and --
The door is flung open without ceremony.
It's Ichabod ready for action, transformed, raring to go -- with Young
Masbath round-eyed just behind him.
ICHABOD
Gentlemen! -- I need able men, to go
with me to the Western Woods. Who
will be the first to volunteer?
BALTUS
You... ? We thought you'd shot your
bolt...
ICHABOD
A setback, merely. And yet, a step
forward too -- we now know who has
done these terrible --
STEENWYCK
You now know, we already knew --
ICHABOD
(high on it)
Quite so -- and now it seems fate
has chosen me to make my name in a
case without parallel in the annals
of crime -- in short, to pit myself
against a murdering ghost.
KATRINA
(fearful for him)
No, Ichabod -- Constable --
LADY VAN TASSEL
(smiles)
Do you intend to arrest him? Or
impound his horse... ?
The Men chuckle indulgently.
ICHABOD
Neither. To put an end to the
killing. To discover the cause and
remove it. Who's with me?
No one.
EXT. WESTERN WOODS -- DAY
No one, indeed... Ichabod and Young Masbath ride alone... their horses
loaded up for the expedition.
Dark, gnarled and creepy woods. Ichabod and Young Masbath move
through. SOUND OF BIRDS etc.
ICHABOD
The Van Garretts, the Widow Winship
... your father, Jonathan Masbath...
and now Philipse... Something must
connect them. Can you think?
YOUNG MASBATH
(shakes his head)
We had no dealings with the
magistrate that I know of...
ICHABOD
And the widow? Your father knew her?
YOUNG MASBATH
(shrugs)
Everyone knew Widow Winship.
ICHABOD
In a manner of speaking, I trust.
YOUNG MASBATH
She would bring old Mr. Van Garrett
a basket of eggs many a day.
ICHABOD
Did your father have dealings with
the Van Garretts?
YOUNG MASBATH
(surprised)
He worked for them, we lived in the
coach house.
Ichabod halts his horse, surprised.
YOUNG MASBATH (CONT'D)
It's nothing -- there were many
servants... all dismissed now, of
course.
(beat -- they ride on)
But there was something happened one
night, a week before the murder. An
argument upstairs between father and
son, and my father was later sent
for by Mr. Van Garrett.
ICHABOD
An argument between father and son?
(to himself,
thoughtfully)
After which, the elder Van Garrett
summoned his servant, Masbath...
Young Masbath halts his horse and looks around.
YOUNG MASBATH
Listen.
ICHABOD
I hear nothing.
YOUNG MASBATH
Nor I -- no birds -- no crickets --
Everything has gone quiet.
YOUNG MASBATH (CONT'D)
-- it's all gone so quiet...
Ichabod notes this nervously.
ICHABOD
You're right!
He gees up the horses. They break into a gallop. A MOVING POV watches
them gallop by.
EXT. WESTERN WOODS AND CAVE ENTRANCE -- DAY
Ichabod and Masbath reach a hill crest. They stop, uneasy.
BELOW, there is a CAVE with a rock archway. An ill-fitting DOOR covers
the mouth. The chimney spews smoke.
Ichabod and Masbath share a fearful look.
ELSEWHERE, SOMEONE WATCHES... A MOVING POV WATCHES Ichabod and Masbath
as they ride to the cave, FOLLOWING...
Ichabod and Young Masbath dismount, tying their horses, then heading
to the cave. They arrive at the cave door. Ichabod hesitantly KNOCKS.
INT. CAVE HOME -- DAY
The door is ajar... Ichabod and Young Masbath step in... Walls are hung
with SKINS and SKELETONS. Across the cave, a CRONE sits facing away,
motionless.
Ichabod and Young Masbath look to each other, fearful.
ICHABOD
Pardon my intrusion...
The Crone, with gray hair and gray features, sits disinterested.
Behind, Ichabod edges slowly forward...
CRONE
You are from the Hollow?
ICHABOD
In a way, yes. I, um...
Ichabod is distracted by gourd BOWLS of DEAD INSECTS, LEAVES and
ACORNS... KNIVES, SCISSORS and YELLOWED BONES.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
I should like to say... um... I make
no assumptions about your
occupation, no, your ways, witch --
which -- which are nothing to me...
um... whatever you are, each to his
own -- um --
The Crone places something on a table beside her... a DEAD BIRD, a
bright red cardinal.
Ichabod backs away, but Masbath comes to stand beside him.
YOUNG MASBATH
Do you know of the Horseman,
ma'am... ? The Hessian.
The Crone draws her finger across her neck.
YOUNG MASBATH (CONT'D)
That'll be him, miss.
Around her neck is a cord on which is threaded a carved stone, a
mystic bauble. Ichabod notices it. The Crone stands, faces them, tall
... points to Ichabod.
CRONE
You, follow with me.
(to young Masbath)
Go out, child. Keep away. No matter
what you hear, keep away.
She takes a candle and heads deeper into the cave...
INT. CAVE HOME, LOWER CAVE -- DAY
The Crone enters through a passage, Ichabod follows, terrified, bent
under the low ceiling.
ICHABOD
Um... what might he hear that he must
keep away from... ?
CRONE
Sit there.
Ichabod sits on a crooked stool. The Crone kneels with her back to
him, grasps two METAL CUFFS with chains attached, slides these onto
her wrists, testing them...
CRONE (CONT'D)
He rides, to the Hollow and back. I
hear him. I smell the blood on him.
ICHABOD
Do... do you? Well... I'm here to find
him and... er... make him stop...
CRONE
You want to see into the netherworld
... I can show you...
The Crone gathers STRAW in a pile on the floor, then gathers bowls,
putting GRASS and POWDER on the pile, WITHERING over it. She takes a
JAR from a table.
ICHABOD
What... what are you doing?
The Crone shakes one jar, pulls the lid off and upends it. A BABY BAT
squirms, dazed. The Crone grips the bat, uses a knife to cut off its
head, soaks the straw with blood.
CRONE
Do not move or speak. When the other
comes, I will hold him.
Using her candle, the Crone lights the straw pile.
ICHABOD
The other... ?
CRONE
Silence.
(bends to inhale smoke)
He comes now.
Ichabod would like to leave now.
EXT. CAVE HOME -- DAY
Young Masbath waits. WIND picks up, kicking leaves, sending them in
swirls. Masbath holds himself against the chill.
INT. CAVE HOME, LOWER CAVE -- DAY
The Crone slumps forward to the floor, suddenly immobile, still with
her back to Ichabod. WIND HOWLS through a hole/window.
Ichabod looks around, uncertain, stands.
ICHABOD
Excuse me... ma'am... ?
The Crone remains motionless. The WIND intensifies. Candles blow out.
Ichabod inches closer...
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
Do you hear me... ?
INT. CAVE HOME, LOWER CAVE -- DAY
The Crone suddenly jumps erect, spinning -- a half-human, half-demon
CREATURE, black clawed hands reaching...
Ichabod cries out, leaping backward...
CHAINS on the restraining CUFFS around the creature's hands go taut,
yanking the creature back.
Ichabod KNOCKS over a table of bones, hits the floor. The creature is
chained, but still wants Ichabod. It SHRIEKS.
The creature's face still seethes from transformation.
CREATURE/CRONE
You seek the warrior bathed in blood
... the Headless Horseman...
Ichabod scrambles back as far as possible. The creature claws the rock
floor, yearning.
CREATURE/CRONE (CONT'D)
Follow the Indian trail to where the
sun dies. Follow to the Tree of the
Dead...
The creature yanks, testing the chains. Behind, the BOLT holding the
chains slips... the WALL CRACKS a little.
CREATURE/CRONE (CONT'D)
Climb down to the Horseman's resting
place. Do you hear... ?
Ichabod nods, quaking, aghast. He glances to the exit.
The chain bolt gives more... coming loose...
Ichabod flees toward the door. The creature HOWLS, leaping... the chain
bolt BREAKS...
Ichabod cries out as he is TACKLED to the floor...
INT. CAVE HOME, LOWER CAVE -- DAY
It is only the CRONE lying on him; she has returned to human form,
semiconscious. Ichabod desperately shoves her off...
EXT. CAVE HOME -- DAY
Ichabod sprints out from the cave, past Young Masbath.
ICHABOD
We are leaving.
YOUNG MASBATH
What happened?
ICHABOD
We are leaving now.
Ichabod scrambles onto Gunpowder, riding, glancing back. Young Masbath
follows.
EXT. WESTERN WOODS AREA TWO, FARTHER ON -- LATER DAY
Ichabod and Young Masbath ride side by side.
ICHABOD
(quoting)
"Take the Indian trail... To the
Tree of the Dead... "
YOUNG MASBATH
How will we recognize it?
ICHABOD
Without difficulty I rather fear.
And "Climb down to the Horseman's
resting place... " she said.
YOUNG MASBATH
His... camp?
ICHABOD
His grave.
A SNAPPING BRANCH is HEARD. Ichabod turns to look back...
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
(whispers to Masbath)
Quicken pace.
Ichabod rides faster. Young Masbath keeps up...
FARTHER ON, they charge over a hill. Ichabod halts Gunpowder, climbs
clumsily off, handing the reins to Masbath.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
Ride on.
Young Masbath obeys. Ichabod takes out his pistol and wades into
forest growth, backtracking...
EXT. WESTERN WOODS AREA THREE -- DAY
INSIDE THE FOREST, Ichabod moves through UNDERBRUSH, keeping low. A
HORSE is HEARD SNORTING.
Ichabod forges on, pushes through branches, fearful...
He comes up behind a FIGURE IN A GRAY CLOAK on horseback, raising his
pistol, cocking the hammer...
ICHABOD
Halt and turn! I have a pistol
aimed.
The FIGURE stops, pushes off the cloak hood. It is Katrina.
KATRINA
It is me.
ICHABOD
(lowers gun, shaken)
Katrina... I might have killed you.
Why have you come?
KATRINA
Because no one else would go with
you.
She smiles a little. Ichabod is heartened.
ICHABOD
I am now twice the man.
Ichabod takes her hand.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
It is your white magic.
She is about to turn this moment into a kiss -- but...
YOUNG MASBATH (O.S.)
Pardon my intrusion...
Ichabod and Katrina look to see Masbath has backtracked.
YOUNG MASBATH
I think you'd better come and look
at this...
Ichabod and Katrina move to follow Young Masbath.
EXT. WESTERN WOODS, TREE OF THE DEAD -- DUSK
Ichabod, Masbath and Katrina come into a clearing, slowing their
horses... looking up in wonder at...
The monstrously huge TREE OF THE DEAD, at the clearing's center.
Its branches reach far and wide, knotted and gross, like agony
captured in wood sculpture.
YOUNG MASBATH
The Tree of the Dead.
KATRINA
It does announce itself.
Ichabod dismounts, crossing a line beyond which grass and weeds will
not grow. Young Masbath and Katrina dismount behind. They all walk
toward the tree...
Ichabod stares up into the endless, dead canopy of branches.
There's a VERTICAL WOUND in the bark, like a terrible suture, now
healed and scarred. Ichabod approaches...
He feels the mushy scar, picking at its scabs till sap begins to run.
Red Sap. Ichabod fingers it, sniffs it.
ICHABOD
Blood.
KATRINA
The tree bleeds? How can it be?
Ichabod goes to where Katrina and Masbath wait with the horses, digs
in a saddle bag for a hand AXE.
YOUNG MASBATH
What is it?
ICHABOD
Stay here.
At the trunk, Ichabod thumps the flat end of the axe against the
suture. It sounds hollow. He begins to CHOP...
He CHOPS into the suture... pulls away loose bark. The tree drips more
blood and a goo. Ichabod uses both hands on the axe to hack at the
festering suture.
KATRINA
What are you doing?
ICHABOD
Just... keep where you are.
Young Masbath moves closer. Ichabod keeps CHOPPING, then grips a
large, loose flap, trying to pull it away. It's not easy. Ichabod
struggles.
Katrina follows Young Masbath's slow advance.
Ichabod's pulling -- the flap suddenly gives, revealing a blood-
soaked, wide-eyed, gap-mouthed HUMAN HEAD.
Ichabod recoils. Behind him, Katrina stifles a scream.
Ichabod backs off, back of his hand to his mouth.
It is PHILIPSE'S HEAD, hanging off the trunk flap, held by roots grown
around and into the flesh.
FOUR other SEVERED, DECAYING HEADS are held by ingrown roots within
the dewy innards.
One of the heads is Jonathan Masbath's. Before Young Masbath sees it,
Katrina hides his face in her bosom and comforts him.
KATRINA
My God...
ICHABOD
He... he tries to take the heads back
with him. They will not pass...
KATRINA
We must leave this place.
Ichabod looks to the branches towering above.
ICHABOD
This is... a gateway, between two
worlds...
Ichabod studies the ground, circling the trunk... Around the other
side, Ichabod gets to his knees...
He's found the HORSEMAN'S SWORD: the grave marker, jutting out from
the ground, rusted twenty years' worth, gripped by the tree trunk and
vines.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
(touching the ground)
Climb down to the Horseman's resting
place...
(looks to Masbath)
Bring the shovel.
Now he sees Katrina hugging the boy.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
Forgive me... I...
Young Masbath courageously recovers himself, wiping his eyes and nose
on the back of his sleeve.
YOUNG MASBATH
Yes, sir -- the shovel... Two
shovels and the rifle, I suggest.
EXT. WESTERN WOODS, TREE OF THE DEAD -- DUSK
Lantern light.
Young Masbath's crouched, rifle across his knees. He watches the tree,
looking up...
High branches swarm with BATS.
Behind Masbath, Ichabod and Katrina dig up the SHALLOW GRAVE.
KATRINA
This ground has been disturbed, the
soil is loose.
Ichabod throws down his Shovel.
Young Masbath comes to the grave. Ichabod pulls at thick BURLAP CLOTH
heavy with dirt... straining as it comes away...
Ichabod drops the burlap, looking down, disbelieving...
ICHABOD
Look... !
WE SEE: Roots have gripped the HORSEMAN'S BONES and tattered uniform.
The skeleton is all there -- except the skull.
KATRINA
The skull is gone. What does it
mean?
Ichabod jumps out from the grave, snapping his fingers.
ICHABOD
(energized)
It means, my dear Miss Van Tassel,
it means -- yes! What exactly does
it mean? -- It means, unless I am
mistaken... it definitely means
something -- what that something is,
only time will tell! But I sense
that we are very close to the answer
here, if only we had one more
clue...
Ichabod is unaware that the ground is writhing around him.
KATRINA (O.S.)
Ichabod... !
Ichabod turns, looks...
Katrina and Young Masbath back away, because... the ROOTS in the grave
are ALIVE, entwining around remains.
Ichabod spins to the twisted tree...
The vertical SUTURE SEETHES, pulling inward... sucking Philipse's head
back in and closing, bubbling.
Ichabod bounds over the grave dirt pile, hastening Katrina and Young
Masbath along as he flees across the field.
At the tree, the suture swells.
Ichabod, Katrina and Young Masbath pass where their freaking horses
are tied to a fallen trunk, heading for cover.
A RUMBLING is HEARD from the tree. It's wound suddenly BURSTS wide,
spitting smoldering cinders.
At the tree line, Ichabod, Katrina and Young Masbath take cover,
looking back.
EXT. WESTERN WOODS TREE OF THE DEAD (EFFECT) -- DUSK
From the tree wound, a glow BRIGHTENS... till suddenly the Headless
Horseman and Daredevil EXPLODE into existence... They hit the ground
running.
EXT. WESTERN WOODS TREE OF THE DEAD -- DUSK
Ichabod watches the Horseman ride away, bolts of LIGHTING STRIKING the
GROUND BEHIND.
The Horseman disappears into the forest.
ICHABOD
(to Masbath)
Did you see that?!
(recovering)
Take Katrina home!
Ichabod runs toward the horses.
YOUNG MASBATH
Constable!
EXT. WESTERN WOODS AREA TWO -- NIGHT
The Horseman rips past on Daredevil...
EXT. WESTERN WOODS AREA THREE -- NIGHT
Ichabod rides as fast as Gunpowder is able...
EXT. WESTERN WOODS AREA TWO, FARTHER ON -- NIGHT
Trees are silhouetted against the sky. As Daredevil's HOOFBEATS get
LOUDER, branches bend like arms and fingers yearning to touch. As
HOOFBEATS ROAR PAST, the trees relax.
EXT. WESTERN WOODS AREA TWO, FARTHER ON -- NIGHT
Ichabod ducks under foliage as he pursues. He sees...
Through the forest ahead: the SKY'S LIT UP. Distant fire.
EXT. WESTERN WOODS, CAVE HOME -- NIGHT
The Crone's CAVE vomits FLAME.
Ichabod arrives on Gunpowder, horrified, struggling for control as
Gunpowder rears, trying to see through BLACK SMOKE...
Embers swirl everywhere. Ichabod dismounts, moving closer to the cave
... suddenly he SLIPS...
Ichabod falls down a bloody rock, landing very close to the CRONE'S
HEADLESS BODY. Ichabod recoils, crawling away, looking to the carnage
in terror...
The corpse lies near the cave entrance. The jagged skin of the neck
wound still bleeds. The ground and dead leaves around the corpse are
thick with BLOOD. Ichabod crawls back to the Crone, terrified... because
he has seen a CLUE.
The cord around the Crone's neck has been cut and the Carved Bauble is
missing (along with the Crone's head).
Ichabod hears a Horse neighing in the trees... and the sound of the
horse crashing through the undergrowth, departing... but he can see
nothing.
EXT. FOREST -- NIGHT
Brom, Theodore and Glen are on patrol -- Brom with his new rifle. They
can hear the same horse crashing invisibly through branches, the sound
of hooves. They can't tell where the sound is coming from. They look
around nervously.
BROM
Split up! He won't get away.
The three of them gallop off in three directions.
When they clear the frame there is a sound of deep rumbling, the sound
we heard before Jonathan Masbath was murdered.
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.
The same rumbling sound is faintly heard.
The glasses on the table shiver audibly. Killian notices. Then the
phenomenon stops. Killian continues picking his teeth.
Thomas gets down from his chair. He goes to the fireplace to light a
tallow wick, which he takes to the next room.
INT. KILLIAN'S HOME, WHITE ROOM -- NIGHT
Thomas plops on the floor and lights his MAGIC LANTERN: a lantern with
an outer sleeve of glass painted with SILHOUETTES of LIONS and
MONSTERS.
Thomas turns the lantern and looks to the walls where the creatures'
SHADOWS are cast.
He roars for them, imagining them real and having a grand time.
INT. KILLIAN'S HOME, KITCHEN -- NIGHT
Beth comes for dishes.
BETH
Don't pick teeth. You teach Thomas
bad habits.
Killian pulls her to him, playful.
KILLIAN
I am a bad habit. There's nothing
for it.
BETH
(kisses him)
Oh, isn't there.
EXT. FOREST -- NIGHT
A black horse runs, hooves pounding the ground.
THUNDER is HEARD. The horse stops... it is Brom's horse, with Brom
riding. Brom looks skyward.
All around, the WIND HALTS. A DEAD SILENCE falls. Distant HOOFBEATS
can be HEARD.
Brom takes his long rifle from his shoulder, rides...
INT. KILLIAN'S HOME, KITCHEN -- NIGHT
Behind Killian, MANTELPIECE STONES pulse, breathing. Demonic faces
form, then disappear. WIND HOWLS.
INT. KILLIAN'S HOME, WHITE ROOM -- NIGHT
Thomas continues his fun, shadow animals circling him. Beth enters,
looking at Thomas, smiling.
The magic lantern suddenly stops spinning. Shadow creatures freeze.
Beth looks up, noticing the FEROCITY of the WIND. The smile leaves her
face.
INT. KILLIAN'S HOME, KITCHEN -- NIGHT
The ENTIRE HOUSE CREAKS. Killian stands, looking up. The HOUSE CREAKS
again, then suddenly the WIND CEASES. Silence.
KILLIAN
Beth...
INT. KILLIAN'S HOME, WHITE ROOM -- NIGHT
Beth picks up Thomas. The magic lantern shadow creatures begin
spinning anew, quickly, around and around.
INT. KILLIAN'S HOME, KITCHEN -- NIGHT
With a ROAR, the fire flares. Killian looks... In the leaping flames
he seems to see -- as we also seem to see -- the ILLUSION OF DEMONIC
FACES molded out of flames.
Behind Killian, the DOOR SPLINTERS INWARD. The Horseman steps in, a
battle axe in each hand. WIND BLASTS...
The DOOR to the other room SLAMS. Killian grabs a chair and HURLS
it...
The Horseman swings, SMASHING it aside.
KILLIAN
Beth... run!
INT. KILLIAN'S HOME, WHITE ROOM -- NIGHT
Beth holds Thomas as she back away from the closed door.
KILLIAN (CONT'D; O.S.)
(from kitchen)
Get out!
INT. KILLIAN'S HOME, KITCHEN -- NIGHT
Killian grabs an IRON SKEWER from the fireplace, SWINGS it to fend off
a blow from the Horseman.
The Horseman SWINGS the other axe. Killian ducks. The axe CRACKS
fireplace stone, throwing sparks.
Killian lunges, JAMMING the skewer into the Horseman... The skewer
comes through the Horseman's back. The Horseman SWIPES with the flat
of one axe -- POUNDS Killian aside...
Killian hits the wall, BASHING his head. Hits the floor.
INT. KILLIAN'S HOME, WHITE ROOM -- NIGHT
Beth kicks a carpet to reveal a TRAP DOOR.
INT. KILLIAN'S HOME, KITCHEN -- NIGHT
The Horseman pulls the skewer out of his body, throws it. He goes to
lift Killian by the hair with one hand, brings back the axe in the
other hand...
INT. KILLIAN'S HOME, WHITE ROOM -- NIGHT
At the trap door, Beth lowers Thomas to stairs leading to a CRAWL
SPACE under the GAPPED floorboards. Thomas is crying.
BETH
Hush -- hush -- quiet as a mouse,
now.
THOMAS
Mother...
BETH
You must hide...
Beth closes the trap door, frantically replacing the carpet. The
room's door FLIES OPEN... the Horseman strides in, carrying Killian's
severed head. Beth shrieks.
EXT. FOREST NEAR KILLIAN HOUSE -- NIGHT
Brom, on his horse, hears Beth's shriek.
INT. KILLIAN'S HOME, CELLAR -- NIGHT
Beth's SCREAMS are abruptly CUT OFF. Her BODY is HEARD HITTING the
floor above. Thomas sees the shadow of Beth's head rolling across the
gaps in the floorboards above him, coming to rest with her hair
showing, hanging down in the gap. FOOTSTEPS are HEARD...
INT. KILLIAN'S HOME, WHITE ROOM -- NIGHT
The Horseman's hands place Killian's and Beth's heads in a sack,
cinching the sack shut.
INT. KILLIAN'S HOME, KITCHEN -- NIGHT
The Headless Horseman enters, bends to retrieve the battle axe he
left. He stands. Long, silent pause.
INT. KILLIAN'S HOME, CRAWL SPACE -- NIGHT
Thomas cowers, trembling. QUIET.
INT. KILLIAN'S HOME, KITCHEN -- NIGHT
The Horseman falls to his knees. He starts to CHOP at the floor with
both axes. CHOPPING, CHOPPING, CHOPPING... making quick work of it...
INT. KILLIAN'S HOME, CRAWL SPACE -- NIGHT
A hole appears as debris falls...
Thomas looks up. He tries to crawl away.
The Horseman's arm SHOVES through from above -- grabbing Thomas and
YANKING him up through the hole.
EXT. KILLIAN'S FARM, TOWN OUTSKIRTS -- NIGHT
Brom rides from the forest.
Ahead, at Killian's house, among scattered homes on the outskirts of
town, Daredevil rides up as the Headless Horseman walks out with his
sack of heads. The Horseman ties the sack to his saddle and leaps up.
The Horseman ignores Brom. But Brom refuses to be ignored.
Brom puts his reins in his mouth, aims his rifle... FIRING...
BOOM -- the slug blows the Horseman off Daredevil, EXPLODING.
Daredevil keeps going. The Horseman's smoldering body is left "face
down."
Brom halts his horse. He climbs down, pleased.
The Horseman moves.
Brom backs away, satisfaction diminishing.
The Horseman rises to his knees.
Brom falls to one knee, begins reloading. He fills the gun from his
powder horn.
The Horseman stands, unsheathes his sword and turns. The blast has
exposed rotten flesh and maggot-infested muscle.
Brom readies his ramrod, but there's no time. He rises, hefting his
rifle, straight at the Horseman with a yell...
The Horseman is on him. Brom swings the rifle, blocking.
The battle is on, with Brom fending off the Horseman's sword with the
rifle -- CLANK... CLANK... CLANK...
ACROSS THE FIELD, Ichabod and Gunpowder arrive...
UP THE FIELD, the Horseman makes a backhanded swing, knocks Brom's
rifle away, sends Brom to the ground...
The Horseman walks away from Brom. Ichabod sees this, registers it.
Brom pulls a knife and throws it.
The knife blade goes through the Horseman from back to front, like a
spear thrust through a smoldering sack of rotten flesh. The Horseman
pulls Brom's knife, blade first, from his chest and turns upon Brom.
Brom scrambles up, flees, running toward Killian's. The Horseman
THROWS the knife...
THWAP -- the knife imbeds in Brom's thigh.
The Horseman strides to Brom.
Ichabod closes in, pulling an unlit lantern off his saddle.
The Horseman changes his sword grip, blade open... plants one foot on
Brom's back, raising his sword to skewer...
Ichabod arrives at full gallop -- SMASHES the lantern into the
Horseman -- KNOCKING the Horseman off Brom.
IN THE DISTANCE, Theodore and Glen arrive on horseback. They halt
where they are, watching.
Brom runs, limping to Killian's house, a goal in sight: FARM
IMPLEMENTS propped there. Brom grabs SCYTHES with long curved blades,
one in each hand.
The Horseman rises.
Ichabod leaps off Gunpowder, runs to Brom's side.
Once more, the Horseman turns away.
BROM
I'll get him!
Brom grabs Ichabod's pistol. Ichabod grabs Brom's pistol arm.
ICHABOD
Wait! Don't you see? -- he's not
after us!
Brom shakes himself free and --
FIRES -- the bullet rips through the Horseman's stomach to reveal
putrid innards.
The Horseman turns and strides back -- no more nice guy!
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
He is now!
Brom throws the pistol at the Horseman.
Across the way, Theodore looks to Glenn, turns his horse and flees.
Glenn follows Theodore away.
Brom steps up, scythes ready. He and the Horseman go at it -- Brom
blocks axe and sword, deflecting blows...
Ichabod grabs a long-handled SICKLE, circles them... SWINGS the sickle.
The Horseman blocks.
The Horseman battles both men at once, catching blows... counting every
strike, METAL RINGING.
Ichabod's sickle is knocked out of his hand.
Brom catches the Horseman's sword in one scythe, catches the axe
handle in the other scythe...
The Horseman flatfoot KICKS Brom, sending him down.
Brom picks up Ichabod's sickle and SWINGS it...
The blade embeds in the Horseman down to the hilt.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
Now you've annoyed him.
The Horseman drops his axe, grasps the sickle handle... The handle
SLAMS Ichabod away...
Ichabod crawls, shaking off the blow. The Horseman staggers, trying to
pull the blade from his body.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
We cannot win this.
Brom yanks Ichabod to his feet and grabs his scythes.
As they flee, Ichabod grabs a wood-splitting AXE from the stump where
it's imbedded.
Behind, the Horseman manages to extract the sickle, drops it.
Brom and Ichabod head toward the COVERED BRIDGE that leads across to
the town square.
The Horseman strides after... retrives his axe on the way.
EXT. TOWN SQUARE AND COVERED BRIDGE -- NIGHT
Brom and Ichabod start across. Ichabod must help support Brom as Brom
limps.
Behind, the Horseman picks up the pace, closing fast...
Inside the bridge, Ichabod and Brom are halfway across. FOOTSTEPS are
HEARD POUNDING. Ichabod glances back...
The Horseman is not behind them. Ichabod and Brom looks up. The
POUNDING FOOTSTEPS are on the roof, passing over... !
Ahead, at the mouth of the covered bridge, the Horseman leaps down,
spinning in midair, lands, crouched.
Ichabod and Brom halt. The Horseman rises.
Ichabod releases Brom and moves forward, gripping his wood axe in both
hands, SWINGING the axe downward...
The Horseman swings his axe -- SPLINTERS Ichabod's axe handle.
The Horseman, axe in one hand, sword in the other, turns upon Brom,
and in pulling Brom aside out of the path of the sword, Ichabod
recieves a sword-thrust in the shoulder, which makes him screem out.
The Horseman lifts his sword arm, THROWING Ichabod and withdrawing the
sword in one motion... Ichabod tumbles.
Brom moves forward with scythes. The Horseman sets upon him with
incredible ferocity -- battling Brom back, striking so hard and fast
it's hard for Brom to keep blocking.
Ichabod tries to get up, but falls, looking up...
ICHABOD'S POV:
The Horseman KNOCKS one of Brom's scythes away, takes another SWING --
sends Brom spinning in a spray of blood...
The Horseman stands over Brom's body, CHOPPING with his sword. Our
POINT OF VIEW grows BLURRY...
A BLURRY HORSEMAN approaches the POV.
Ichabod is at the Horseman's mercy.
Then, another ANGLE -- the Horseman ignores Ichabod, strides past him.
Ichabod takes a step back and collapses.
FADE TO BLACK
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, ICHABOD'S ROOM -- NIGHT
Candlelight. Ichabod, shirtless, feverish, opens his eyes. The wound
at the top of his chest is raw but with the edges sealed shut. Ichabod
in on his bed. Doctor Lancaster bends over him. Baltus Van Tassel
observes.
DOCTOR LANCASTER
Remarkable. A wound like this should
have killed him... but it needs no
stitch and there's hardly loss of
blood.
Baltus sees Ichabod's eyes open.
BALTUS
He stirs.
Ichabod tries to rise, looking around, collapses in pain.
DOCTOR LANCASTER
You must be still... the fever is on
you.
ICHABOD
(weakly)
Katrina...
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, KITCHEN -- NIGHT
A Woman is bent over the hearth, mumbling.
Then we see it is Katrina, mumbling over a boiling beaker of milk and
green leaves. There is a dead crow on the hearth, with one foot
chopped off and a sharp knife lying alongside.
KATRINA
(chanting, repeating the
phrases)
Nostradamus Mediamus, Milk Of Mercy
In Media Nos Laudamas...
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, ICHABOD'S ROOM -- NIGHT
Katrina enters with the beaker of medicine. Baltus and Doctor
Lancaster are bending over Ichabod, the Doctor trying to make Ichabod
drink a livid green liquid from a shot glass.
DOCTOR LANCASTER
It will restore you.
Ichabod closes his lips tight and refuses the drink -- he doesn't
trust Lancaster. Katrina comes to the bedside with her beaker. Ichabod
sees her. He is in pain, feverish.
ICHABOD
I... I... tried to stop Brom but...
Katrina soothes him.
KATRINA
Sssh... no one could have done more.
Drink this down, it will make you
sleep.
ICHABOD
The Horseman was not set to kill
Brom... or me... If Brom had not
attacked him...
BALTUS
Later. Rest now.
ICHABOD
I have discovered something.
Baltus and Doctor Lancaster glance at each other.
BALTUS
These are ravings...
ICHABOD
The Horseman does not kill for the
sake of killing... he choses his
victims.
KATRINA
Drink...
She holds the beaker to Ichabod's lips. He drains it and falls back on
the pillow, closing his eyes.
Baltus turns at a sound from the door.
Lady Van Tassel has entered quietly. She comes to him anxiously and
grips his hand.
LADY VAN TASSEL
What is it, Baltus?
BALTUS
Nothing... nothing... Don't be
troubled, my love...
They hold hands lovingly, staring at Ichabod, who has fallen asleep.
ICHABOD'S DREAM -- CHURCH -- NIGHT
Empty church. Young Ichabod enters, carries a lantern past pews. He
HEARS a SOUND, moving behind a pew to hide.
Ahead, across the church, a RED DOOR opens... Father and the
villainous Third Man come out, shutting the door, speaking quietly.
The Third man holds a piece of parchment paper. Father is ever
emotionless.
Ichabod watches them, ducking down to keep hidden...
Father and the Third Man walk to leave down the aisle, passing close
to Ichabod without seeing him. They exit, leaving Young Ichabod alone
in the silent church.
Young Ichabod rises, begins moving fearfully forward... FOLLOW as he
crosses through the church... going to the RED DOOR... opening it...
ICHABOD'S DREAM -- CHURCH, BEYOND THE RED DOOR -- MORNING
Young Ichabod enters. The room contains TORTURE DEVICES: IRON CUFFS,
THUMB SCREWS, KNIFES and NEEDLES. There is a SPIKED CHAIR, fitted with
sharp spikes, adorned with straps for holding down the "accused."
Young Ichabod backs away, terrified, then sees...
A shaft of light cuts across a large, sarcophagus-like IRON MAIDEN --
where MOTHER'S EYES can be seen through the slit in the Iron Maiden's
face. Open eyes. Dead eyes.
Young Ichabod lets out a strangled cry, runs to the Iron Maiden,
trying to pull it open, clawing at the lock...
Finally, Young Ichabod backs away, choking on misery. He looks around
in despair. He falls to his knees at the spiked chair, places his
hands on the spikes, pressing...
As he sobs, blood runs down from his hands. He looks down and sees the
CAT is there, looking up at him. The cat reaches up to rub its head
against his face.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, ICHABOD'S ROOM -- NIGHT
Ichabod, sobbing, has jerked up out of the dream straight into
Katrina's embrace.
She is sitting on the bed, holding him, calming him. She notices blood
on his palms.
She takes a plain linen handkerchief from her cuff and dabs at the
blood.
KATRINA
Hush... hush... you were dreaming.
Ichabod falls back on the pillow.
ICHABOD
Yes... thing I had forgotten and
would like not to remember.
KATRINA
Perhaps the remembering is the hard
road to peace of mind... What ails
you, Ichabod?
ICHABOD
I was well, it was the world that
was ill... But since I came here...
KATRINA
You were not a happy man when you
came. I think your wound was deeper
than the wound you received from the
Horseman...
(she puts her hand on
his forehead)
But your fever is broken, and though
I cannot cure the world I would make
you live happy in it... Tell me what
you dreamed.
ICHABOD
How I found my mother dead... how
good and evil sometimes wear each
other's clothes. She was an
innocent, a child of nature,
condemned... murdered... by my
father...
KATRINA
Murdered by... ?
ICHABOD
Yes -- murdered to save her soul!
By a Bible-Black tyrant behind a
mask of righteousness. I was seven
when I lost my faith.
KATRINA
What do you believe in, Ichabod?
ICHABOD
Sense and reason, cause and
consequence, an ordered universe...
Oh lord, I should not have come to
this place where my rational mind
has been so controverted by the
spirit world...
KATRINA
Is there nothing you will take from
Sleepy Hollow that was worth the
coming here?
Their eyes meet.
ICHABOD
No... not nothing. A kiss... and how
rare a thing... a kiss from a lovely
woman before she saw my face or knew
my name.
KATRINA
Yes, without sense or reason...
They hold still, perhaps about to kiss.
KATRINA (CONT'D)
It was a kiss on account.
But Ichabod breaks the moment.
ICHABOD
Oh -- God forgive me -- I talk of
kisses and you have lost your brave
man Brom --
KATRINA
I have shed my tears for Brom... and
yet my heart is not broken. Do you
think me wicked?
ICHABOD
No... but perhaps there is a little
bit of the witch in you, Katrina.
KATRINA
Why do you say that?
ICHABOD
Because you have bewitched me.
This time their held look turns into a passionate embrace...
EXT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, PORCH -- NIGHT
Young Masbath slowly opens the door to peer out. He walks out onto the
porch, watching as...
ACROSS THE LAWN, a CLOAKED FIGURE walks, carrying a LANTERN. The
figure heads onto the long straight road, into the forest, lantern
light dissipating.
Young Masbath steps off the porch, in cautious pursuit.
EXT. THE HOLLOW -- EARLY MORNING
Dawn light is visible over fog-shrouded forests.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, ICHABOD'S ROOM -- MORNING
Ichabod awakes, rolls... finds Lady Van Tassel at his bedside with food
and drink. Ichabod covers himself with his sheets.
LADY VAN TASSEL
You slept like the dead.
ICHABOD
You are too kind to me... I do not
look to be served by the lady of the
house.
LADY VAN TASSEL
(smiles)
Nor would you be but that the
servant girl has vanished.
ICHABOD
Sarah?
LADY VAN TASSEL
Run away, like many more -- people
are leaving in fear without
ceremony.
ICHABOD
Where is... ?
LADY VAN TASSEL
She watched over you till dawn. Now
it is her turn to sleep.
Young Masbath enters as Lady Van Tassel goes out.
Ichabod looks at his palms, which are stained with dried blood.
ICHABOD
Help me. I am fit for another day, I
think.
The scene incorporates Young Masbath pouring water for Ichabod to wash
himself, and helping him into his clothes.
YOUNG MASBATH
Where are we going?
ICHABOD
To the Notary's office.
YOUNG MASBATH
Why?
ICHABOD
Because that is where I expect to
find deposited... the last will and
testament of the elder Van
Garrett...
YOUNG MASBATH
You have thought of something...
ICHABOD
... of something you said, Young
Masbath... The Widow Winship came
many a day with a basket of eggs to
Van Garrett... who I understand had
hens to spare... I begin to see. It
was Van Garrett's child that the
widow was carrying. And what news
have you?
YOUNG MASBATH
I heard someone leaving last night.
Looked like they headed to town, but
I lost them in the woods.
ICHABOD
You didn't see who?
YOUNG MASBATH
All I saw was their lantern.
Ichabod ponders, troubled, as Masbath brings him a shirt.
ICHABOD
The Horseman does the killing but, I
believe, at the bidding of a mortal,
someone of flesh and blood.
YOUNG MASBATH
What... ? What makes you say that?
ICHABOD
The witch... the crone, when I
happened upon her corpse, she lay in
a pool of blood. Blood poured hard
from her neck. The wound was not
cauterized.
YOUNG MASBATH
Then, she was not killed by the
Hessian. Someone only tried to make
it seem so.
ICHABOD
(nods)
It was the settling of a private
score. But the Horseman cuts heads
to a different drum. The crone
pointed us to what drives the
Hessian -- his skull has been stolen
from his grave. The person who stole
it has power over the Hessian. Here
is why the Headless One has returned
through the gate of the Tree of the
Dead. He chops heads until his own
is restored to him.
YOUNG MASBATH
But what person... ?
ICHABOD
A person who stands to gain by these
murders.
EXT. TOWN SQUARE, CHURCH -- DAY
WAGONS, HORSES and TOWNSPEOPLE swarm. A CROWD empties the town's
general store. Provisions are passed along, man to man, and loaded
onto wheelbarrows.
Ichabod and Young Masbath ride, passing MANY ANGRY FACES.
All up and down the long straight road, home owners board up windows
with lumber.
Ichabod and Young Masbath stop, tying their horses in front of the
"NOTARY." Ichabod looks off...
DOWN THE ROAD, people head to the CHURCH. Much activity...
ICHABOD
Sanctuary. Or, so they hope.
People carry supplies into the church, within the bordering WROUGHT-
IRON FENCE. Others work to build and erect massive WOODEN CROSSES.
In the crowd here, Reverend Steenwyck spots Ichabod and Young Masbath,
pushes past people, shouting...
STEENWYCK
There he is! There... !
People begin to pay attention to Steenwyck as he climbs atop a crate,
pointing toward Ichabod...
STEENWYCK (CONT'D)
(to everyone)
The desecrater of Christian burial!
Twice he met the Horseman, and kept
his head! How is it so... ?
AT THE NOTARY, Ichabod tries to ignore, heads inside, as a clod of
earth hits him on the shoulder.
IN THE CHURCHYARD, Steenwyck continues his rant.
STEENWYCK (CONT'D)
The Devil protects his own!
INT. NOTARY PUBLIC, HARDENBROOK'S OFFICES -- DAY
A small, untidy room with piles of dusty documents in great disorder.
The Notary Hardenbrook looks at Ichabod with his one good eye. Young
Masbath stands near.
ICHABOD
I take it, Mr. Hardenbrook, that
wills and testaments are held here
on public record?
Hardenbrook is in a funk, trying to act calm. He passes a document
across the desk.
HARDENBROOK
I believe this is what you wish to
see. Take it and go!
Ichabod scans the will of Peter Van Garrett.
HARDENBROOK (CONT'D)
Van Garrett Senior left his estate
to his next of kin, that is to say,
to his only son. However, the son
being murdered in the same
instant...
ICHABOD
The next of kin after the son would
be the eldest of the line from Van
Garrett's father's sister... none
other than the Baltus Van Tassel:
something else no one thought to
mention!
HARDENBROOK
Well, you have found your way to it,
and I hope you will leave now before
my windows are boken.
The crowd murmurs outside like angry bees. Ichabod flourishes the
will.
ICHABOD
I am not ready to leave.
Hardenbrook starts moaning and wringing his hands.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
A brick through your window is not
what puts you in terror, Hardenbrook
... there is something else... I saw
your fear, and Steenwyck's and the
doctor's, when you met at Philipse's
house... Philipse paid with his
head, and you fear for your own.
HARDENBROOK
Yes, it's true! -- but we did not
know it was a murdering plot when we
were drawn in!
ICHABOD
Drawn in by whom?!
HARDENBROOK
Mercy upon me! -- We meant no harm
to come to her!
ICHABOD
No harm to come to whom?
HARDENBROOK
(babbling)
But the marriage made her next of
kin...
ICHABOD
Made who next of kin to whom?! --
I'm confused!
YOUNG MASBATH
He means old Van Garrett secretly
married the Widow Winship.
ICHABOD
(getting it)
Of course! And Van Garrett made a
new will, leaving everything to her
and his unborn child... So she stood
between Baltus and the legacy! Where
is the will?
HARDENBROOK
I cannot be seen to help you -- the
Horseman will come for me -- !
ICHABOD
I will not leave without the very
last will and testament of --
Hardenbrook digs into a mountain of documents, hurling handfuls into
the air... and flings the second will at Ichabod. Young Masbath
nervously checks the door.
HARDENBROOK
Go, then! I am a dead man!
He starts to sob.
YOUNG MASBATH
Sir...
ICHABOD
(reading)
Young Masbath... I know why your
father died. That night when Van
Garrett quarreled with his son,
Jonathan Masbath was summoned
upstairs to witness the new Will.
Here is your father's signature. It
was his death warrant.
Young Masbath takes the document and looks at it tearfully.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
But the secret was not safe. Mrs.
Killian the midwife was forewarned
the baby was coming -- and so she,
too, had to die.
One of the other hurled documents has fluttered down fortuitously in
front of Ichabod. He picks it up.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
The marriage certificate. Parson
Steenwyck married them. Doctor
Lancaster confirmed the widow was
pregnant. She told the secret to
Magistrate Philipse. Notary
Hardenbrook concealed the
documents...
Hardenbrook snivels and moans and wrings his hands.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
And you all kept silence! Why?...
For some nameless dread of the man
who stood to gain by it -- Baltus
Van Tassel!
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, STAIRS -- DAY
Ichabod and Young Masbath start up the stairs, noticing:
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, PARLOR -- DAY
Baltus, alone, with a glass of liquor, is brooding over an oak coffer
of SILVER COINS, running coins through his fingers.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, STAIRS -- DAY
Ichabod continues with Young Masbath, speaking quietly.
YOUNG MASBATH
I think there is some error in your
reasoning...
ICHABOD
(politely)
Really? Do give me the benefit of
your...
YOUNG MASBATH
All these murders... just so that
Baltus Van Tassel should inherit yet
more land and property?
ICHABOD
Precisely. Men murder for profit.
Possibly you don't know New York... ?
Suddenly he sees his bedroom door is ajar.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, ICHABOD'S BEDROOM -- DAY
Ichabod's entry surprises... Katrina, sitting at Ichabod's desk,
reading his Ledger.
ICHABOD
Katrina... why are you in my room?
KATRINA
(smiles)
Because it is yours. Is it wicked of
me?
ICHABOD
No... no...
KATRINA
I missed you. Where did you go?
ICHABOD
To the Notary... I had questions to
ask Hardenbrook.
KATRINA
And did you learn anything of
interest?
Ichabod and Young Masbath exchange a glance.
ICHABOD
Well... perhaps.
KATRINA
My father...
ICHABOD
(jumps)
Your father... ?
KATRINA
Yes. My father thinks you should
return to New York.
ICHABOD
Really? Why is that?
KATRINA
(smiles)
I don't know. Perhaps he looked in
your ledger and did not like what he
saw...
She leaves the Ledger open on the desk. Ichabod steps over to look.
Young Masbath cranes his neck to look. It is a page of doodles with
the name "Katrina" written several times, and a sketch of Katrina.
Embarrassed Ichabod closes the Ledger.
KATRINA (CONT'D)
He believes townfolk and country do
not mix.
Ichabod opens the drawer in the desk and puts away the document he
took from the Notary.
He is nervous because he knows they point to complicity by Katrina's
father. Young Masbath, watching, understands this, Ichabod locks the
drawer and pockets the key.
KATRINA (CONT'D)
What have you there?
ICHABOD
Evidence. I'm sorry, I must ask
your...
KATRINA
Then I will leave you to your
thoughts. Sleep well.
Katrina leaves. Ichabod is troubled.
Then -- to add to his troubles -- he suddenly sees a HUGE SPIDER
scuttling under his bed. He doesn't like spiders, even small ones. He
gives a yelp.
YOUNG MASBATH
It's only a spider.
ICHABOD
Where's it gone? -- Where's it gone?
Can you see it?
Young Masbath crouches to look under the bed. He frowns, puzzled.
YOUNG MASBATH
There's something under there...
ICHABOD
Kill it! Kill it!
(getting a grip)
No -- no... er... stun it...
YOUNG MASBATH
Help me move the bed.
Young Masbath and Ichabod move the bed.
YOUNG MASBATH (CONT'D)
Look...
UNDER THE BED is revealed a strange PENTAGRAM drawn in chalk.
YOUNG MASBATH (CONT'D)
The Evil Eye!
ICHABOD
What... ? What is... ?
YOUNG MASBATH
It is someone casting spells against
you.
ICHABOD
The Evil Eye.
The spider is sitting on the Pentagram.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, ICHABOD'S ROOM -- LATER NIGHT
Young Masbath, fully dressed, sleeps on the bed. Ichabod sits waiting.
He takes the cover off the lantern, looks at a CLOCK. Midnight.
Ichabod heara A DOOR OPEN AND CLOSE, then a CREAK on the stairs. He
lights a candle. Then he goes to wake Young Masbath.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, ICHABOD'S DOOR -- NIGHT
Ichabod and Younng Masbath come out of the room.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, SECOND FLOOR HALLWAY -- NIGHT
Ichabod and Young Masbath come down STAIRS with a lantern, cautious.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, SITTING ROOM -- NIGHT
Ichabod and Young Masbath cross, A CREAKING FLOORBOARD is HEARD from
ANOTHER ROOM. Ichabod quickly covers his lantern.
Across the room, LIGHT comes under a DOOR, stops... continues.
FOOTSTEPS are HEARD, then a DOOR OPENING and CLOSING.
EXT. FOREST BY VAN TASSEL HOUSE -- NIGHT
LANTERN LIGHT moves, far ahead. Ichabod and Young Masbath follow,
fearful, keeping hidden.
EXT. FOREST BY VAN TASSEL HOUSE, FARTHER ON (HILLSIDE) -- NIGHT
Ichabod and Young Masbath stop on a hillside.
ICHABOD
Wait here.
Ichabod advances, up the hill... peers forward to see...
EXT. FOREST CLEARING BY VAN TASSEL HOUSE -- NIGHT
The lantern sits on a rock. On a blanket, a semi-naked MAN and semi-
naked WOMAN are in the midst of rough SEX.
Ichabod crawls to peer from underbrush.
The couple keeps coupling, the MAN on top. His grunts and gasps are
particularly desperate. He's all over the WOMAN, who lays back... it is
LADY VAN TASSEL.
Ichabod swallows.
Lady Van Tassel pulls down the man's shirt, exposes his flesh. She
raises a small, sharp KNIFE behind his back.
Ichabod's eyes widen. He's about to shout a warning, but...
Lady Van Tassel brings the blade to her own hand, slicing deep into
her palm. Blood flows. She rubs her cut hand over her partner's
arching back, smearing blood.
Lady Van Tassel caresses the man's chest, neck, face... trailing blood.
The man lifts his head, in ecstasy, sucking the woman's bloody fingers
... it's REVEREND STEENWYCK.
Ichabod backs away, having seen more than enough.
EXT. FOREST BY VAN TASSEL ESTATE (HILLSIDE) -- NIGHT
Ichabod returns to Young Masbath's side.
YOUNG MASBATH
What was there?
ICHABOD
Something I wish I had not seen. A
beast with two backs.
YOUNG MASBATH
(wow!)
A beast with... ? What next in these
bewitched woods?!
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, ICHABOD'S ROOM -- NIGHT
Ichabod and Young Masbath enter.
Ichabod sees that his desk drawer is slightly open.
He opens the drawer knowing the worst.
The documents have been taken.
Masbath suddenly sniffs the air. He signals to Ichabod, alert. He
shiffs again... and in the grate is the source of the smell: the
documents burned to ashes.
Ichabod, in despondency, brings his finger to his head, rubbing his
temples.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, KITCHEN -- DAY
LADY VAN TASSEL
She will not see you.
She is talking to Ichabod. Her hand is loosely bandaged.
ICHABOD
Did she say... anything?
LADY VAN TASSEL
Only that she will not come down.
ICHABOD
I see. Thank you.
Ichabod turns to go.
LADY VAN TASSEL
Constable, you have not asked me how
I hurt my hand since yesterday...
which would have been polite. In
fact you have been as careful not to
look at it as not to mention it.
She strips off the bandage to show a roughly sewn cut.
ICHABOD
Yes -- I'm sorry... How did you... ?
Lady Van Tassel GRABS Ichabod by the wrist, tight...
LADY VAN TASSEL
(whispering close)
I know you saw me.
ICHABOD
What... ?
LADY VAN TASSEL
I know you followed last night. You
must promise not to tell my husband
what you saw... promise me...
Ichabod tries to pull away, but she grips tighter. The FRONT DOOR is
HEARD SLAMMING. Ichabod is panicky.
LADY VAN TASSEL (CONT'D)
Reverend Steenwyck has power over
me.
ICHABOD
P-p-power... ?
LADY VAN TASSEL
He knows something terrible against
my dear husband -- what you
witnessed was the price of
Steenwyck's silence.
ICHABOD
What does Steenwyck know?
Footsteps approach the door, the handle turns.
LADY VAN TASSEL
Later -- later...
She pulls away just as Baltus enters.
BALTUS
The town is in a ferment. Horror
piled on tragedy -- Hardenbrook is
dead -- strangled.
Baltus goes straight to a flagon on the side table and lifts it to his
lips. Ichabod stares at Baltus's strong hands gripping the neck of the
flagon.
LADY VAN TASSEL
Oh... ! That harmless old man?
BALTUS
Hanged himself in the night!
ICHABOD
Hanged himself?
BALTUS
Reverend Steenwyck has called a
meeting at the church -- tonight.
Every man, woman and child.
(to Ichabod)
He will speak against you -- if you
are wise you will be gone from here.
Steenwyck's congregation is already
halfway to being a mob.
ICHABOD
I will go when I have done what I
came to do.
Lady Van Tassel comes to calm her husband. Baltus notices her wound.
BALTUS
What is this?
LADY VAN TASSEL
I was careless with the kitchen
knife --
BALTUS
The wound looks angry --
LADY VAN TASSEL
I'll bind it later with wild
arrowroot flowers -- I know where
I'll find some. Will you ride with
me?
Ichabod slips silently out of the room.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, STAIRS -- DAY
Ichabod goes up the stairs.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, SECOND FLOOR -- DAY
Ichabod knocks quietly at Katrina's door. No answer. He quietly opens
the door.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, KATRINA'S ROOM -- DAY
Katrina's bed has been slept in but it's empty and she is not there.
But in the grate there is the telltale heap of charred paper and ash,
recognizable as Ichabod's documents.
A sound at the door makes him whip around. It is Young Masbath.
YOUNG MASBATH
I saw her riding away towards the
old pasture.
INT. WINDMILL -- DAY
A small PILE of STRAW burns. GLOVED HANDS unfold a paper filled with
HAIR CLIPPINGS, which are sprinkled on the fire.
A cloaked FIGURE kneels at the pile. This person removes a HUMAN SKULL
from a cloth bag.
The skull is placed at center in the flames. It's teeth are sharp, cut
to points -- the HORSEMAN'S SKULL.
INT. VAN TASSEL ESTATE -- FIELDS -- DAY
Ichabod rides Gunpowder, approaching the Ruined Cottage. He finds
Katrina crouched over the hearthstone. Her horse grazes. She hears his
horse and turns.
ICHABOD
Katrina...
Ichabod dismounts. Katrina had made a small fire. She is "doing
magic." Mumbling. She turns to look at Ichabod in anger and tears.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
(sympathetically)
You took the papers and burned
them... ?
KATRINA
So that you would not have them to
accuse my father... !
ICHABOD
I... I accuse no one... but if there
is guilt I cannot alter it no matter
how much it grieves me... and no
spells of yours can alter it
either...
KATRINA
If you knew my father you would not
have such harsh thoughts about him
-- no, nor if you felt anything for
me!
ICHABOD
(in torment)
I am pinioned by a chain of
reasoning! Why else did his four
friends conspire to conceal... ?
KATRINA
You are the Constable, not I -- so
find another chain of reasoning and
let me be.
ICHABOD
I cannot -- not the one or the
other. I am heartsick with it.
KATRINA
I think you have no heart -- and I
had a mind once to give you mine.
Katrina mounts her horse, which rears up. She is momentarily like a
female warrior, her eyes ablaze with anger and tears.
ICHABOD
(cries out)
Yes -- I think you loved me that day
when you followed me into the
Western Woods! -- to have braved
such peril!
KATRINA
(scornfully)
What peril was there for me if it
was my own father who controlled the
Headless Horseman?! Good-bye,
Ichabod Crane! I curse the day you
came to Sleepy Hollow!
Ichabod watches her gallop away and hides his anguished face for
comfort in Gunpowder's neck.
EXT. FIELD AND COPSE -- EVENING
A distant bell is tolling as Baltus waits on his horse... watching
where Lady Van Tassel can be glimpsed among the spaced trees gathering
"arrowroot flowers."
BALTUS
(calls out)
Come. Hurry up! The meeting bell has
started toning.
He looks anxiously toward the vinage, then back to the trees... where
to his horror he sees... the Headless Horseman moves slowly toward Lady
Van Tassel, calmly unsheathing his sword.
EXT. SLEEPY HOLLOW, CHURCH -- NIGHT
People are entering the Church while the bell tolls them in... watched
grimly by Steenwyck.
EXT. SLEEPY HOLLOW TOWN SQUARE, CHURCH -- NIGHT
More people are heading toward the Church. In the shadows, Ichabod,
hatted and cloaked to make himself look anonymous, also watches the
people going by... and sees Katrina among them.
Baltus comes charging through the TOWN SQUARE on his horse.
BALTUS
The Horseman... !
Baltus is barely hanging on. He stops, falling off his horse,
scrambling toward Katrina, who is not far from Ichabod.
BALTUS (CONT'D)
Save me...
KATRINA
Father... ?
BALTUS
He killed her...
Baltus grasps Katrina, deathly afraid.
BALTUS (CONT'D)
The Horseman has killed your
stepmother!
HOOFBEATS are HEARD... the SCREECHY CRY of Daredevil. Baltus looks...
The Horseman rides into view, giving chase...
Instant mayhem -- the few people in the churchyard flee, heading for
the Church...
Baltus runs toward the Church...
KATRINA
Father!
Katrina chases after Baltus. Ichabod now sees that his "case" is
falling apart. He and Young Masbath start running to the Church.
INT. CHURCH -- NIGHT
The GATHERERS in the pews react to the commotion, shouting, some
running to the windows... to the doors...
EXT. CHURCH -- NIGHT
Baltus pushes through the IRON GATE, across the churchyard, bounding
up the stairs... Katrina following him.
The Horseman rides behind...
Ichabod, with Masbath, follow into the churchyard. Ichabod glances
back...
ICHABOD
(to Young Masbath)
I know what you are thinking.
YOUNG MASBATH
It seems Baltus Van Tassel is not
the one who controls the Horseman.
As the Horseman reaches the open gate, Daredevil rears up violently,
snorting, unwilling to enter.
INT. CHURCH -- NIGHT
Baltus makes his way into the church, shoving people aside.
Men pass RIFLES from stockpiles and climb onto pews at the boarded
windows. Women herd children into a cellar.
Baltus searches for a hiding place, moves toward the back...
Katrina moves through, following Baltus...
At the front of the Church, Ichabod squeezes in just as the front
doors are forced shut. Ichabod surveys the madness...
Ichabod runs to a window, looking out between boards...
EXT. CHURCH -- NIGHT
At the church yard gates, the Horseman grabs Daredevils reins, tries
to move forward again. Same result -- Daredevil freaks.
The Horseman gives his AXE an underhand toss... to the ground inside
the gate...
The axe instantly BEGINS TO DEGRADE -- like dust in the rain.
The Horseman steers away, keeping outside the fence.
INT. CHURCH -- NIGHT
Ichabod comes away from the window, looking to the mass of panicked
citizens. He sees Katrina pushing up the aisle... she's heading toward
Baltus.
Katrina turns to Ichabod, her face aflame with accusation.
Ichabod is humbled, desperate to make it up -- but Katrina runs toward
... the Altar, where she prostrates herself, evidently in a paroxysm of
despair.
RIFLES BOOM LOUDLY as men at the windows begin FIRING...
EXT. CHURCH -- NIGHT
The Horseman circles, under fire.
Great clouds of gun smoke shoot from the Church.
Men fire down from the belfry.
Parts of the Horseman and Daredevil splatter red as slugs hit, without
effect.
At the other side of the Church...
The Horseman circles, heading to the town square...
INT. CHURCH -- NIGHT
Riflemen shout to each other, running to the opposite windows to
follow the Horseman.
Young Masbath grabs a rifle, leaps to join the brigade.
Baltus is trying to force his way to one of the cellar doors, when
Steenwyck grips him angrily, SHOVES him...
STEENWYCK
You'll kill us all... !
Baltus stumbles back, topples pews.
STEENWYCK (CONT'D)
You're the one the Horseman wants.
Steenwyck grabs Baltus, dragging him to the front.
Ichabod's pushing past people, trying to get to them.
EXT. TOWN SQUARE, CHURCH -- NIGHT
The Horseman brings Daredevil to a halt, yanks a large coil of ROPE
off a hitching post, turns to ride back...
INT. CHURCH -- NIGHT
Baltus pulls free from Steenwyck, falls to the floor again.
STEENWYCK
Why should we die for you? Get out!
Others join the rage, pulling Baltus toward the front of the Church,
shouting. Ichabod joins in, struggling to push people off of Baltus...
ICHABOD
Stop this... !
Ichabod gets to Baltus's side, trying to protect.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
The Horseman cannot enter! It does
not matter who he wants, he cannot
cross the gate... !
At the windows, ONE RIFLEMAN cries out.
ONE RIFLEMAN
He's coming back!
More panic. Steenwyck points toward Baltus.
STEENWYCK
We have to save ourselves... !
Baltus pulls the PISTOL from Ichabod's holster...
BALTUS
No! Unhand me! Stand off... !
Baltus brandishes the gun. Everyone backs off.
EXT. CHURCH -- NIGHT
The Horseman rides past the front, fired upon...
The Horseman halts along a length of the wrought gate, reaches... yanks
off one IRON POST, which is pointed on top, like an arrow head.
INT. CHURCH -- NIGHT
Baltus holds everyone away with the pistol, enraged...
BALTUS
The next person to lay hands on me
will have a bullet.
Doctor Lancaster, who so far has just been one of the crowd, now
pushes his way between Steenwyck and Baltus.
DOCTOR LANCASTER
Enough have died already!
(to Steenwyck
meaningfully)
It is time to confess our sins and
ask God to forgive our trespasses!
STEENWYCK
Don't be a fool! I warn you, Doctor
Lancaster -- !
BALTUS
(to Doctor Lancaster)
What is it that you know?
DOCTOR LANCASTER
(to Baltus)
Your four friends played you false.
We were devilishly possessed by one
who --
That's as far as he gets before Steenwyck wrenches a heavy ornate
CROSS from the wall and smashes his skull with a blow of tremendous
force, with the Cross.
Baltus FIRES -- blasts a bloody hole in Steenwyck's stomach... !
Everyone backs farther away as Steenwyck falls. Steenwyck lays
gasping, eyes huge. He tries crawl...
Katrina rises to her feet and stands; staring wide-eyed at the horror.
Ichabod moves toward her.
Steenwyck lays still with a bloody gurgle, face down. Baltus looks to
all the horrified people around him.
BALTUS
There is conspiracy here! And I will
seek it out!
CRASH! -- the IRON POST comes SPEARING through a window, trailing
rope...
CRACK -- SKEWERS Baltus from behind: its bloodied point bursting out
through his breastbone...
Baltus gasps, stunned... he drops the gun, looks down to clutch the
post. Blood streams out of his mouth.
Ichabod catches Katrina as she swoons. Horrorstruck, he hugs her... and
thus notices that hanging on a ribbon around her neck is the little
carved bauble taken from the neck of the dead Crone. Almost at the
same time, Ichabod sees that on the flagstones where Katrina was lying
there is now a "Drawing" done in chalk, identical to the "Evil Eye"
drawing he found under his bed.
ICHABOD
(gasps)
The Evil Eye again!
At that moment, a piece of White Chalk falls from Katrina's senseless
hand.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
Oh God... .it was you!
The full horrible implication of this hits Ichabod just as:
The rope tied to the post suddenly YANKS Baltus backward with
incredibleforce -- SLAMS him into the WINDOW...
EXT. CHURCH -- NIGHT
Baltus CRASHES backward through the window, hits the ground,
DRAGGED...
OUTSIDE THE FENCE, the Horseman rides Daredevil away from the church,
with the rope tied around Daredevil's saddle pommel...
Baltus SLAMS the fence. The rope SNAPS. Baltus is held there
awkwardly, gurgling blood.
INT. CHURCH -- NIGHT
Ichabod, holding Katrina, cries out --
ICHABOD
Oh... Katrlna... Oh God, forgive
her...
EXT. CHURCH -- NIGHT
The Horseman turns Daredevil, riding back... his sword raised high...
... he chops off Baltus's head.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE -- NIGHT
Katrina lies insensible in her bed... the ribbon with the bauble around
her neck.
Ichabod stands watching her, alone with his grief and his appalling
"secret."
ICHABOD
It was an evil spirit possessed you.
I pray God it is satisfied now, and
that you find peace. Good-bye,
Katrina. The Evil Eye has done its
work. My life is over -- spared for
a lifetime of horrors in my sleep,
waking each day to grief.
Ichabod leaves the room, closing the door.
EXT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, KITCHEN, PORCH AND LAWN -- DAWN
Ichabod, watch only by Young Masbath, stands by a FIRE burning in a
CIRCLE of ROCKS nearby. He has his Ledger. After a moment, he throws
the LEDGER onto the fire. The pages catch quickly.
He opens his satchel and digs out a BOOK. His luggage is packed on the
porch.
He walks back to the fire, looks at the book in his hand, the book
Katrina gave him. He stands staring down.
A DECREPIT COACH is arriving.
EXT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, KITCHEN, PORCH AND LAWN -- DAY
The decrepit COACH, with Gunpowder as one of its team, waits, loaded
with Ichabod's baggage.
Van Ripper, the driver, helps Ichabod with strapping the load. Young
Masbath watches, not helping.
Ichabod turns to Young Masbath.
Angry tears come to Young Masbath's eyes. The farewell is like an
argument.
YOUNG MASBATH
But who will look for the truth when
you have gone?
ICHABOD
There is no more truth to be found.
That is why I can go and leave this
wretched place behind me.
YOUNG MASBATH
You think it was Katrina, don't you?
Ichabod clamps his hand over Young Masbath's mouth. He looks intently
into his eyes.
ICHABOD
That can never be uttered. Never.
Ichabod takes his hand away.
YOUNG MASBATH
A strange sort of witch! -- with a
kind and loving heart! How can you
think so?
ICHABOD
I have a good reason.
YOUNG MASBATH
Then you are bewitched by reason.
ICHABOD
I am beaten down by it! It's a hard
lesson for a hard world, and you had
better learn it, Young Masbath --
villainy wears many masks, none so
dangerous as the mask of virtue.
Farewell!
Van Ripper climbs onto the coach. Ichabod looks to the Manor House.
Only one light shines, in a SECOND FLOOR WINDOW.
lchabod climbs into the coach.
INT. VAN RIPPER'S COACH -- DAY
INSIDE THE COACH, Ichabod slumps. He pounds twice on the coach wall.
EXT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, FRONT LAWN -- DAY
OUTSIDE, Van Ripper whips the reins. The coach starts. Young Masbath
watches, wiping tears.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, KATRINA'S ROOM -- DAY
Katrina wakes. She hears the Coach Wheels. She gets up from the bed
and goes to the window. Her POV shows the Coach leaving... Katrina's
face shows that her world has collapsed around her.
EXT. TOWN SQUARE, CHURCH -- DAY
Van Ripper's coach crosses the covered bridge... past the town square
... past the church.
Near Doctor Lancaster's house, the coach passes a flat cart... on
which lies the headless corpse of Lady Van Tassel. Ichabod looks at
the corpse and he notes the gashed palm of one dead hand.
The cart is being pulled at a walking pace by a single horse. The CART
MAN walking, holding the bridle.
The cart man pauses, seeing a RIDER approaching, traveling in the same
direction as Ichabod's coach.
Ichabod realizes that the rider is Katrina. He looks from the coach
window and sees Katrina get down from the horse and go to the cart.
Ichabod pulls back from his window and closes his eyes.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, ICHABOD'S ROOM -- DAY
Young Masbath enters, looks around the empty room. He goes to sit,
crosses his arms on the desk and lays down his head.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, PARLOR -- DAY
Katrina enters. She crosses, slumps in a chair, staring into the
burning fireplace
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, VARIOUS ROOMS -- POV -- DAY
A POV MOVES SLOWLY THROUGH THE HOUSE; SOMEONE'S searching various
rooms...
INT VAN RIPPER'S COACH -- DAY
Ichabod opens his satchel, takes out a bottle of water and gulps from
it. In replacing the bottle, he finds... the Book given him by Katrina.
He opens the book. There is a DIAGRAM DRAWING on a whole page. Ichabod
recognizes... the "Drawing" of the supposed "Evil Eye," identical to
the two we have seen before. But what gets Ichabod's real attention is
the bold "headline."
The Headline over the Picture is "For The Protection of A Loved One
Against Evil Spirits."
Ichabod gasps, and mutters the words aloud.
What a fool he's been!
ICHABOD
(to himself)
But then, who... ?
He is puzzled. He stares at his open palms. The scars on his palms
trigger a thought...
Then he understands: something we will soon understand.
He slides the front window panel to shout through it.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
Van Ripper, turn the coach... !
VAN RIPPER
What?
ICHABOD
Turn around, now!
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, VARIOUS ROOMS, PARLOR -- POV -- EVENING
SOMEONE still moves through the house, a TRAVELING POV -- moving
through ROOMS on the ground floor...
Stopping at the doorway of the PARLOR, looking to where Katrina is
seated across the room.
INT. DOCTOR'S RESIDENCE, MEDICAL ROOM -- EVENING
Mrs. Lancaster comes to answer BANGING on the door. She opens the door
and Ichabod pushes past, satchel in hand, taking Mrs. Lancaster's
lantern.
ICHABOD
Pardon my intrusion...
There are TWO COFFINS on the floor.
Ichabod throws off the lids from the coffins, looking to the headless
BODIES of BALTUS and LADY VAN TASSEL.
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, PARLOR -- INTERCUT -- EVENING
Katrina still sits, her eyes closed. A FIGURE in BLACK moves forward
in the darkness behind...
INT. DOCTOR'S RESIDENCE, MEDICAL ROOM -- INTERCUT -- EVENING
Ichabod goes to lift Lady Van Tassel's hand with the GASH on its palm,
bends to study... pulling at the sewn wound -- pulling the stitches
apart between his thumbs...
Mrs. Lancaster watches.
INT. VAN TASSEL H0USE, PARLOR -- INTERCUT -- EVENING
Katrina hears a BOARD CREAK. She sits up, turning...
KATRTNA
Who is it?
INT. DOCTOR'S RESIDENCE, MEDICAL ROOM -- INTERCUT -- EVENING
Ichabod releases the corpse's hand, tears off his spectacles, shaken
by the realization...
ICHABOD
No bloodflow, no clotting, no
healing... When this cut was made...
this woman was already dead.
Ichabod grabs his satchel, bolts out the door...
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, PARLOR -- INTERCUT -- EVENING
The FIGURE moves closer in darkness...
KATRINA
Who is there... ?
The FIGURE comes into the dim, flickering fire light... Lady Van
Tassel.
LADY VAN TASSEL
Dear step daughter...
Katrina stands, terrified, trying to form words... Lady Van Tassel
cackles like a witch.
LADY VAN TASSEL (CONT'D)
You look as if you've seen a ghost.
Katrina's eyes roll up as she FAINTS dead away to the floor.
EXT. TOWN SQUARE, DOCTOR'S RESIDENCE -- NIGHT
Ichabod runs out from the DOCTOR'S RESIDENCE, leaps up onto the empty
coach, pushing Van Ripper's rifle aside. Van Ripper's urinating
against the side of the building.
VAN RIPPER
Be with you in a minute, Constable.
Ichabod whips the horses, driving the coach away.
Van Ripper frowns in confusion.
INT. THE WINDMILL -- NIGHT
The interior of the windmill is large and shadowy, with lots of old
junk, clutter, machinery, boxes, etc.
Katrina lies unconscious. Lady Van Tassel comes to cut off a clump of
Katrina's hair with SCISSORS, grinning as she does it.
A CONJURING PILE has been prepared, containing a small ANIMAL'S HEART
with an iron NAIL through it. Lady Van Tassel adds Katrina's hair,
lights the pile off a lantern.
Lady Van Tassel WHISPERS over the fire. She looks to Katrina, who
stirs.
Lady Van Tassel takes the HORSEMAN'S SKULL from a bag over her
shoulder, places it in the flames. THUNDER is HEARD.
LADY VAN TASSEL
(whispers and chants)
Rise up once more, my Dark Avenger!
-- Rise up! -- One more night of
Beheading! -- Rise up with your
sword, and your Mistress of the
night will make you whole -- a head
for a head, my unholy Horseman --
rise -- rise -- rise from the earth,
come forth again through the Tree of
the Dead... come now for... Katrina!
EXT. WESTERN WOODS, TREE OF THE DEAD -- NIGHT
The WIND scatters dead leaves. The TWISTED TREE OPENS WIDE with a
RUMBLE -- SHAFTS of LIGHT shooting out.
EXT. THE ROAD TO VAN TASSEL ESTATE -- NIGHT
Ichabod drives the coach hard ahead.
INT. THE WINDMILL -- NIGHT
Katrina sits up, groggy, looking around... sees the dying fire, and
Lady Van Tassel watching her.
LADY VAN TASSEL
Awake at last. Did you think it was
all a nasty dream? Alas, no.
KATRINA
My father saw the Horseman kill
you...
LADY VAN TASSEL
He saw the Horseman coming to me
with his sword unsheathed! But it is
I who govern the Horseman, my dear,
and Baltus did not stay to see.
KATRINA
But there was your body!
LADY VAN TASSEL
The servantgirl, Sarah, I always
thought her useless, but she turned,
out useful. Tomorrow I'll totter out
of the woods and spin a tale how I
found Baltus and Sarah in the act of
lust... as I watched, the Horseman
was upon them, and off went Sarah's
head! I fainted and remember nothing
more...
KATRINA
Who are you?
LADY VAN TASSEL
My family name was... Archer.
KATRINA
(remembering the cottage
hearth)
The Archer...
LADY VAN TASSEL
I lived with my father and mother
and my sister in a gamekeeper's
cottage not far from here...
The conversation is being heard by a MOVING POV among the shadows.
LADY VAN TASSEL (CONT'D)
Until one day, my father died, and
the landlord who received many years
of loyal service from my parents...
evicted us. No one in this God-
fearing town would take us in...
The MOVING POV stops, spying from behind the clutter. The REVERSE SHOT
reveals YOUNG MASBATH, holding his breath.
LADY VAN TASSEL (CONT'D)
... because my mother was suspected
of witchcraft...
Young Masbath looks about for a weapon. His eyes alight on a large
Wooden Mallet.
LADY VAN TASSEL (CONT'D)
She was no witch, but I believe she
knew much that lies under the
surface of life... and she schooled
her daughters well while we lived as
outcasts in the Western Woods. She
died within a year... and my sister
and I remained in our refuge, seeing
not a soul... until, gathering
firewood one day, we crossed the
path of the Hessian...
FLASHBACK -- FOREST BATTLEFIELD (WESTERN WOODS) -- DAY
The Hessian Horseman (avec head) has happened upon TWO YOUNG GIRLS
gathering firewood. The girls stand frozen at the sight of him, till
one girl drops her firewood and runs...
The second girl remains, holding the Horseman's gaze.
INT. WINDMILL -- NIGHT
LADY VAN TASSEL
I saw his death, and from that
moment...
FLASHBACK -- FOREST BATTLEFIELD (WESTERN WOODS) -- DAY
The Girl watches the burial of the Horseman... and his Head dropped
into the grave.
LADY VAN TASSEL
... I offered my soul to Satan if he
would raise the Hessian from the
grave to avenge me.
INT. WINDMILL -- NIGHT
Young Masbath, unseen, works his way quietly around behind Lady Van
Tassel.
KATRINA
Avenge you?
LADY VAN TASSEL
Against Van Garrett, who evicted my
family, against Baltus Van Tassel
who, with wife and simpering
girlchild, stole our home. I swore I
would make myself mistress of all
they had...
(she cackles again)
The easiest part was the first -- to
enter your house as your mother's
sick nurse and put her body into the
grave, and my own into the marriage
bed.
Katrina cries out in horror.
LADY VAN TASSEL (CONT'D)
Not quite so easy was to secure my
legacy... but lust delivered Reverend
Steenwyck into my power. Fear did
the same for the Notary Hardenbrook.
The drunken Philipse succumbed for a
share of the proceeds, and the
Doctor's silence I exchanged for my
complicity in his fornications...
Masbath moves into the open, weapon raised. Katrina sees him and
stifles a gasp.
KATRINA
(keeping Lady Van
Tassel's attention)
Yes! -- you have everything now.
LADY VAN TASSEL
No, my dear -- you do, by your
father's will. But I get everything
in the event of your death.
(she cackles again)
Lady Van Tassel's hand reaches for the Mystic Bauble on Katrina's
neck. She rips it free.
LADY VAN TASSEL (CONT'D)
(as she does so)
This pretty bauble, which I so
kindly gave you to wear, has done
it's work. My sister, by the way,
sadly passed away...
FLASHBACK -- OUTSIDE CRONE'S CAVE HOME -- DAY
The Crone falls to the ground outside her cave, unconscious, beaten
and bloodied.
A hand -- Lady Van Tassel's hand -- enters FRAME to haul the Crone up
by the hair, and WE SEE the Crone's bloodied features face to face
with the wicked smile of Lady Van Tassel.
INT. WINDMILL -- NIGHT
LADY VAN TASSEL
... quite recently.
FLASHBACK -- OUTSIDE CRONE'S CAVE HOME -- DAY
Lady Van Tassel holds a SWORD high, SWINGS DOWN... Then we see the
separated Head and Torso... and the severed CORD, which had been around
the Crone's neck... and Lady Van Tassel's Hand reaching for the Mystic
Bauble, which had fallen free.
INT. WINDMILL NIGHT
Young Masbath is about ready to bring the mallet down upon Lady Van
Tassel's head.
KATRINA
(keeping Lady Van
Tassel's attention)
It was the Crone you killed... your
own sister...
LADY VAN TASSEL
She brought it upon herself...
Like a whiplash, Lady Van Tassel turns cackling at Young Masbath --
she sensed him by witchery!
LADY VAN TASSEL (CONT'D)
(to Young Masbath)
-- by helping you and your master!
Young Masbath shrieks and drops the mallet.
LADY VAN TASSEL (CONT'D)
You are just in time to have your
head sliced off!
Katrina and Young Masbath run to each other for mutual comfort.
LIGHTNING BRIGHTENS the forest. Lady Van Tassel looks up.
LADY VAN TASSEL (CONT'D)
The Horseman comes. And tonight he
comes for you!
EXT. WESTERN WOODS -- NIGHT
The Horseman rides Daredevil, a freight train of moldering flesh...
INT. WINDMILL -- NIGHT
Katrina and Young Masbath are holding hands, scared.
Lady Van Tassel picks up the Horseman's skull in her gloved hand and
puts up her face and gives out a long animal howl. Distantly,
Daredevil is heard answering with a scream.
Katrina and Young Masbath run. Lady Van Tassel has need to stop them.
LADY VAN TASSEL
Run! There is no escape!
EXT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE, PORCH AND LAWN -- NIGHT
Ichabod leaps from the coach, bounds up porch stairs...
ICHABOD
Katrina!
Ichabod stops, sees FIRELIGHT at the Windmill. He runs... leaps back up
to the coach and takes off...
EXT. WINDMILL -- NIGHT
THUNDER BOOMS. WIND HOWLS. Lady Van Tassel stands in the doorway with
the skull in one hand, laughing.
EXT. AROUND THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WINDMILL -- NIGHT
Katrina and Young Masbath break out into the open. Ichabod drives
toward them...
KATRINA
Ichabod!
Ichabod meets them, halts the coach and jumps down (as the coach
horses trot away), running to put his arms around Katrina and Young
Masbath...
ICHAB0D
Thank God...
Lady Van Tassel's mad laughter is heard. Ichabod and Katrina turn
as...
Lady Van Tassel rides from around the windmill on her white horse. She
shrieks with laughter.
ALONG THE TREELINE, the Horseman breaks into the open... Hell on
horseback -- full speed ahead...
LADY VAN TASSEL (0.S.)
Have you come back to arrest him
after all?!
Ichabod thinks fast, moving to the windmill, leading Katrina and Young
Masbath along with him.
ICHABOD
Quickly... !
Behind, wind tosses Lady Van Tassel's dress and hair. She holds the
Horseman's skull high.
LADY VAN TASSEL
Mind your hat, Constable!
Young Masbath scurries up the ladder and in.
Katrina's next. Ichabod looks behind... The Horseman is almost upon
them.
Ichabod follows Katrina, pulling himself up. The Horseman arrives,
dismounting, moving forward...
INT. WINDMILL -- NIGHT
Ichabod leaps up, lifts the heavy trap door on its hinges, slams it.
The door is POUNDED from outside, buckling.
YOUNG MASBATH
It won't hold.
Ichabod goes to a large GRINDSTONE against a wall. He struggles to
roll it...
Young Masbath helps him roll it to the trapdoor. It falls on top with
a THUD. Masbath jumps back as the Horseman's sword jabs up through the
grindstone's center hole.
The sword withdraws. POUNDING begins anew.
EXT. WINDMILL -- NIGHT
The Horseman chops at the door with his axe.
INT. WINDMILL -- NIGHT
POUNDING CONTINUES, Katrina and Young Masbath back away. Ichabod holds
his lantern up, desperate for ideas, searching.
Above, to the right, is the high MILLING PLATFORM, where grain is
ground and bagged, and a ladder leading to it. To the left is the
crooked, open STAIRCASE.
Ichabod picks up a BAILING HOOK, a plan forming. He gives his lantern
to Katrina and points.
ICHABOD
Get up these stairs. Open the door
to the roof and wait.
Katrina and Young Masbath obey, heading left. Ichabod crosses to the
right, starts climbing the ladder to the milling platform...
On the platform, Ichabod grasps a wooden lever, pulling it.
The entire windmill CREAKS and GROANS as massive GEARS and
COUNTERWHEELS above begin to turn.
EXT. WINDMILL -- NIGHT
The windmill's rotors slowly begin spinning.
UNDER THE WINDMILL, the Horseman keeps chopping...
His axe exposes grindstone, throwing sparks.
INT. WINDMILL -- NIGHT
Katrina looks down from the stairway. The POUNDING on the trap door
causes the grindstone to jump.
KATRINA
Ichabod...
ICHABOD
Keep climbing. I will follow...
(under his breath)
Hopefully.
Ichabod drags large BAGS of GRAIN, lining them up at the edge of the
milling platform.
ABOVE, Young Masbath throws open the door to the roof.
BELOW, Ichabod uses the bailing hook to cut holes into the grain bags,
so that MILLED GRAIN SPILLS out and falls to the floor, creating
clouds of grain dust.
Ichabod grabs one open bag, dumps it.
He slices into a sack hanging from a pulley system, pushes it so it
swings in circles, grain flooding out...
More and more DUST RISES, filling the air...
EXT. WINDMILL ROOF -- NIGHT
Masbath and Katrina come out. Rotors spin behind them.
INT. WINDMILL -- NIGHT
The GRINDSTONE blocking the trap door FALLS THROUGH as wood splinters
and gives. A moment, then the Horseman climbs in.
KATRINA
(looking in from above)
Behind you!
Ichabod looks down, sees the Horseman, then looks to the staircase
adjacent from the high platform. He runs...
He LEAPS across the space between the platform and stairs...
Ichabod grasps the outer rail of the staircase, hanging on, pulls
himself up onto the stairs...
Below, the Horseman moves through clouds of billowing dust, runs and
LEAPS, incredibly high...
The Horseman grasps a hanging chain, swinging, his momentum carrying
him in a wide arc...
Above, Ichabod runs upstairs, to the roof door.
The Horseman's weight swings him toward the stairwell...
He releases the chain... airborne momentarily...
The Horseman lands high up on the stairwell.
EXT. WINDMILL ROOF -- NIGHT
Katrina and Young Masbath help Ichabod onto the roof.
KATRINA
Quickly, close it!
ICHABOD
No...
Ichabod takes the lantern from Katrina.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
(points)
Get to the crest of the roof and be
ready to jump.
YOUNG MASBATH
Jump? From up here?!
INT. WINDMILL -- NIGHT
The Horseman clomps upstairs, axe in hand.
EXT. WINDMILL ROOF -- NlGHT
Ichabod shepherds Katrina and Young Masbath to the edge, where the
rotors spin close.
ICHABOD
Jump for the sails! Wait till I give
the word!
KATRINA
Ichabod!... I can't...
ICHABOD
Yes, you can, my love -- hand in
hand...
Ichabod moves back to the trap door.
Katrina and Young Masbath look at the rotors, and down at the long
distance between them and the ground.
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
Be ready...
Ichabod DROPS the LANTERN into the windmill and runs...
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
Now!
INT. WINDMILL -- NIGHT
The Horseman continues up. The lantern falls past...
EXT. WINDMILL, ROOF -- NIGHT
Young Masbath jumps. Ichabod grips Katrina, jumps...
They hit one rotor, gripping the frame and cloth as the rotor begins
its DOWNWARD TURN...
INT. WINDMILL -- NIGHT
The lantern hits the ground and shatters -- FLAMES EXPLODE!
Throughout the windmill's interior, grain dust is consumed
instantaneously -- FLAMES ROAR upward...
FLAMES engulf the Horseman...
EXT. WINDMILL -- NIGHT
The rotor is halfway to its lowest point. Masbath, Katrina and Ichabod
hang on as the ENTIRE STRUCTURE TREMBLES...
Flames shoot out windows, doors and seams!
On the rotor, Ichabod struggles to keep a grip on Katrina. Masbath
drops. Ichabod and Katrina fall...
They all hit the ground. Ichabod rolls over, gasping, holding his
shoulders, getting to his feet...
Ichabod, Katrina and Young Masbath run away as smoldering debris rains
down.
EXT. ACROSS THE FIELD -- NIGHT
Ichabod ushers them along as they run, heading uphill. Lightning
flashes across the sky. THUNDER RUMBLES.
EXT. WINDMILL -- NIGHT
Behind, the WINDMILL begins to CRUMBLE, huge burning sections crashing
to the ground.
EXT. ACROSS THE FIELD -- NIGHT
Ichabod, Katrina and Young Masbath slow, looking back at the
incredible conflagration.
YOUNG MASBATH
Is he dead?
ICHABOD
He was dead to start with -- that's
the problem.
KATRINA
Look...
EXT. WINDMILL -- NIGHT
IN THE WINDMILL RUBBLE, the Horseman RISES, shoving off burning
debris. His flame-ravaged uniform smolders.
EXT. ACROSS THE FIELD -NIGHT
Ichabod spins, searching for possibilities... He spots the COACH and
HORSES not too far away...
ICHABOD
Come on!
They flee toward the coach. Behind...
Daredevil rides to rejoin the Horseman.
EXT. THE ROAD FROM VAN TASSEL ESTATE -- NIGHT
The coach hits the long straight road, rumbling at top speed away from
the Van Tassel Estate, into the forest...
Katrina and Masbath hold on as the coach shakes violently.
KATRINA
Where are we going?
ICHABOD
Anywhere!
YOUNG MASBATH
He's right behind!
Behind on the trail, the Horseman chases, closing fast.
KATRINA
Make for the church!
ICHABOD
We'll never reach it!
Young Masbath grabs Ichabod's satchel, offers it...
YOUNG MASBATH
Here, sir... you must have something
in your bag of tricks.
ICHABOD
Nothing that will help us, I am
afraid. Take the reins...
Young Masbath takes them. Ichabod gives Van Ripper's rifle to Katrina,
then crawls back across the coach roof.
Ichabod gets to a baggage area at the rear, struggling to open a
storage box.
Behind, the Horseman draws his sword, closer.
Ichabod opens the box and pulls out a jagged HAND SAW.
KATRINA
Look out... !
Ichabod looks. The Horseman rides up, SWINGS his sword...
Ichabod recoils -- THWACK -- just missed.
The Horseman lets the coach get ahead, shifting to the other side of
the trail... coming along side again...
Ichabod backpedals, looking to Masbath.
ICHABOD
Keep him off! Block him!
Masbath guides the horses over. The Horseman must fall behind to avoid
the wheels.
One wheel hits a large rock...
Ichabod bounces, falling, drops the saw...
He hangs off the side of the coach.
The saw clatters away on the trail.
Ichabod tries for better purchase. He grips the coach door.
Katrina climbs to offer her hand.
KATRINA
Take my hand!
Ichabod reaches to her, but the coach door falls open...
Ichabod's PISTOL falls from the holster and is lost on the trail.
Ichabod clings helplessly to the door as branches slam him.
EXT. BEHIND THE TRAIL
The Horseman gets to his feet. Ahead, Daredevil stands waiting, giving
a SCREECH.
EXT. AHEAD ON THE TRAIL NEAR THE TREE OF THE DEAD
Katrina and Ichabod rejoin Mashath, climb off the coach to examine the
ruined wheel, panicked.
ICHABOD
This is not good.
YOUNG MASBATH
We're doomed.
ICHABOD
We have to get out of the open
somehow. Quick, follow me...
They turn to run, but suddenly falter, seeing... Riding over the crest
of the hill, comes Lady Van Tassel, on her white horse, with Ichahod's
lost pistol in her hand...
EXT. NEAR FOREST -- NIGHT
LADY VAN TASSEL
What? Still alive?!
Across the distance, the Horseman strides in this direction.
ICHABOD
Run, Katrina...
Lady Van Tassel points her gun at Katrina.
LADY VAN TASSEL
Yes, do run. And jump. And skip.
(she takes aim)
And now let's see a somersault!
ICHABOD
Run!
Ichahod makes a move toward Lady Van Tassel, but Lady Van Tassel aims
and FIRES -- shoots Ichahod in the chest! Ichahod goes down...
KATRINA
No!
Young Masbath cries out, falls to his knees beside Ichabod. Katrina
moves toward Ichahod... Lady Van Tassel rides forward -- GRABS Katrina
by the hair, PULLING HER, riding off toward the Horseman... Ichabod
lays clutching the smoldering wound in his chest, gasping. Young
Masbath holds him...
YOUNG MASBATH
Oh, God... no... no...
Lady Van Tassel drags Katrina by the hair as Katrina screams and
struggles and kicks.
The Horseman keeps coming...
Lady Van Tassel stops her horse, halfway to the Horseman, drops
Katrina and starts riding back, shouting...
LADY VAN TASSEL
There she is. Take her, she's yours!
Katrina gets up to run, stumbles, falls...
The Horseman strides after...
Up the field, Ichabod gets to his knees, feeling his chest with both
hands, not quite understanding, struggling to shake off delirium...
YOUNG MASBATH
Sir, you're... you're not dead...
ICHABOD
Not... yet...
Ichabod looks up, trying to comprehend...
Lady Van Tassel had turned her horse, her back to us, keeping her
distance from the Horseman. Beyond her, Katrina flees this direction
with the Horseman at her heels.
Ichabod's focused on something...
The black SADDLEBAG slung over Lady Van Tassel's horse.
Ichabod rises out of pure determination, runs...
Katrina runs... the Horseman is closing on her.
Lady Van Tassel watches, grinning, but at the last second something
catches her eye and she turns, just as...
Ichabod LEAPS...
TACKLES Lady Van Tassel off of her horse, taking her down to the
ground HARD... her bag falling open...
The Horseman's skull rolling out...
Ichabod scrambles toward the skull -- but falls, halted. Lady Van
Tassel grips his leg, holding him.
Young Masbath grabs a heavy, broken TREE LIMB off the ground.
The Horseman is mere yards behind Katrina...
Ichabod struggles to get free from Lady Van Tassel, can't break her
grip when, BANG -- Young Masbath SMASHES Lady Van Tassel over the head
with the tree limb. She's out.
The Horseman catches Katrina...
Ichabod scrambles free, running, reaching for the skull... grasping
it...
The Horseman holds Katrina ready by her hair as she falls to her
knees, screaming and struggling. The Horseman raises his sword...
Ichabod rises, THROWS the skull with all his might...
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
Horseman!
The skull spins through the air...
The Horseman suddenly drops Katrina, reaches up with one hand...
catches the skull.
Katrina runs. Ichabod runs to meet her, grabs her as she falls.
Together, they back away from the Horseman...
The Horseman holds the skull out... brings it to his shoulders, to its
rightful place. THUNDER POUNDS.
TRANSFORMATION begins -- blood and flesh rise up from the Horseman's
throat and grip the skull...
Young Masbath watches in awe.
The Horseman's reformation continues. Muscle forms. Liquids become
solids. He is made whole once more, the same evil, human face we saw
in Baltus's stories.
The Horseman looks to Ichabod and Katrina, touches his restored face.
Daredevil rides up, SCREECHING. The Horseman replaces his sword,
climbs into the saddle.
He rides toward Katrina and Ichabod, but he does not want them. They
are so exhausted they fall down. Young Masbath comes to stand with
them.
The Horseman leans to grab Lady Van Tassel's unconscious form, pulls
her up across Daredevil's back.
The Horseman rides away with her.
Ichabod and Katrina watch him go. They look at each other, then kiss
gratefully. Ichabod looks to Young Masbath...
ICHABOD (CONT'D)
How are you, Young Masbath?
YOUNG MASBATH
Weary, sir.
Ichabod holds out his arm. Masbath comes over. They embrace. Katrina
touches the burned bullet hole in Ichabod's clothing.
KATRINA
I thought I had lost you.
Ichabod reaches into his clothing, takes out a BOOK he kept in an
inner pocket close to his heart...
The BOOK OF SPELLS with a bullet lodged in it.
Katrina wraps her arms around Ichabod.
EXT. WESTERN WOODS, TREE OF THE DEAD -- NIGHT
HOOFBEATS.
The Horseman enters the clearing, holding on to Lady Van Tassel.
Ahead, the Tree of the dead awaits.
Lady Van Tassel is awakening...
The Horseman grips Lady Van Tassel's hair, pulling her face up closer
to his, just as she opens her eyes...
Lady Van Tassel screams...
As the Horseman brings his face to meet hers, about to engage in a
KISS, his jagged teeth open wide.
Ahead, the twisted tree's wound opens, deep and glowing, as Daredevil
picks up speed.
EXT. WESTERN WOODS, TREE OF THE DEAD -- NIGHT
Daredevil JUMPS in the air just as a LIGHTNING BOLT blasts down from
the sky, striking the Horseman...
For an instant, Horseman and horse are transformed, SKELETONS OF
LIGHT, entering the tree!
Silence and smoke.
At the tree, Lady Van Tassel's hand sticks out from the tight-shut
suture.
The sewn wound on her palm seeps blood as her fingers curl.
EXT. NEW YORK CITY STREET, ICHABOD'S HOME -- DAY
A coach pulls up to Ichabod's home. Ichabod is the driver.
He gets off, goes and opens the coach door. He helps Katrina down.
Next, Young Masbath sticks his head out.
Katrina holds Young Masbath's hand. Ichabod comes to hold Katrina's
hand.
A STRAY CAT watches them --
Young Masbath looks entranced at the BUSTLING METROPOLIS.
YOUNG MASBATH
Oh, my!
KATRINA
(equally impressed)
And cobbled streets!
ICHABOD
(proudly)
Yes... New York, New York! Just in
time for the new century! It's the
modern age, Katrina!
KATRINA
It's always the modern age, Ichabod
... but the ancient ones endure.
Large snowflakes begin to fall upon the scene.
Ichabod puts an arm around Katrina and the other arm around Masbath.
The CAT is black with one white paw... the Cat from Ichabod's dreams...
The CAT turns to look at the trio.
ECU -- The CAT'S EYES ARE HUMAN, INTELLIGENT, KINDLY... They are
Ichabod's Mother's eyes.
Ichabod, Katrina and Young Masbath enter Ichabod's house, as the SNOW
continues to fall.
THE END