Help here! Lend a hand! Anyone!
- Constable Crane? ls that you? - None other.
Not only me. l found something which was lately a man.
- Burn it. - Yes, sir.
- We do not know the cause of death. - lf found in the river, it is drowning.
We might determine whether he was dead before he went into the river.
- l will need to examine the body. - Cut him up? Are we heathens?
- What happened to him? - Arrested for burglary.
Good work.
The millennium is almost upon us.
ln a few months, we will be living in the 19th century.
Yet our courts rely on medieval methods of torture.
- Stand down. - l stand up, for sense and justice.
Ourjails overflow with men convicted on confessions worth no more ...
Constable Crane! This is a song we have heard from you more than once.
There are two courses open to me.
First, l can let you cool your heels in the cells, -
- until you learn respect for the dignity of my office ...
Why am l the only one who sees that to solve crimes, detect the guilty, -
- we must use our brains to find clues, using up-to-date scientific techniques?
Which brings me to the second course.
There is a town upstate, two days to the north, in the Hudson Highlands.
lt is a place called Sleepy Hollow.
- Have you heard of it? - l have not.
An isolated farming community, mainly Dutch.
Three persons have been murdered, all within a fortnight.
Each one found with the head lopped off.
Clean as dandelion heads, apparently.
You will take your experimentations to Sleepy Hollow, -
- and there you will detect the murderer.
Bring him here to face our good justice.
- Will you do this? - l shall.
Remember, it is you, lchabod Crane, -
- who is now put to the test.
The pickety witch, the pickety witch, who's going to kiss the pickety witch?
- ls it Theodore? - l am only a stranger.
Then have a kiss on account.
l am looking for Baltus Van Tassel.
l am his daughter, Katrina.
- We have not heard your name yet. - l have not said it. Excuse me.
- You need some manners! - Brom, we'll have no raised voices.
lt is to raise spirits in this dark time that l and my wife are giving this party.
You are welcome, even if you are selling something.
Constable lchabod Crane, sent from New York to investigate the murders.
Then Sleepy Hollow is grateful to you.
We hope you will honour us by remaining in this house.
Come sir, we'll get you settled. Play on!
Excuse me.
Thank you. Please tell Mr Van Tassel l will be down in a moment.
l will, sir.
Thank God you're here.
Ah, excellent, come in.
Leave us, my dear.
We are joined by Dr Thomas Lancaster, Reverend Steenwyck, -
- our able magistrate Samuel Philipse, -
- and lastly, this fine fellow is James Hardenbrook, our notary.
- And you, sir?. - A simple farmer who has prospered.
The town looks to me as friend and counsel.
And landlord and banker. Can we proceed?
So, three persons murdered ...
First, Peter Van Garrett ...
... and his son, Dirk Van Garrett.
Both of them strong, capable men, -
- found together ... decapitated.
One week later, the Widow Winship.
Also decapitated.
Now, l will need to ask you many questions, -
- but first let me ask, is anyone suspected?
How much have your superiors explained to you?
Only that the three were slain in open ground, -
- their heads found severed from their bodies.
Their heads were not found severed. Their heads were not found at all.
- The heads are gone? - Taken.
Taken by the Headless Horseman. Taken back to hell.
- Pardon, l don't ... - Perhaps you had better sit down.
Yes.
The Horseman was a Hessian mercenary, -
- sent 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.
When battle was joined, there you'd find him.
He rode a giant black steed named Daredevil.
He rode hard into battle, chopping off heads at full gallop.
He had filed his teeth down to sharp points, -
- to add to the ferocity of his appearance.
This butcher didn't finally reach his end until the winter of '79.
Not far from here, in our western woods.
They chopped off his head with his own sword. Even today the woods -
- is a haunted place, where brave men will not venture.
For what was planted in the ground that day-
- was a seed of evil.
And so it has been for 20 years.
But now the Hessian wakes, cutting off heads where he finds them.
Are you saying ... ls that what you believe?
Seeing is believing.
They tell me you've brought books of scientific investigation.
This is the only book l recommend you read.
Reverend Steenwyck, gentlemen ...
Murder needs no ghost to come from the grave.
We have murders in New York without benefit of ghouls and goblins.
You're far from New York.
The assassin is a man of flesh and blood, and l will discover him.
Come out, devil.
- His name's Gunpowder. - He should do just fine. Thank you.
Good luck, sir. You need any help, you call my name.
Don't you worry about a thing. Everything will be just fine.
Thomas, inside!
Run along for breakfast. Kiss your mother once for you and twice for me.
Murder! The Horseman's killed again!
All right, Gunpowder, we're off.
No, no, the other way.
Good horse.
Mr Miller, ride back for the coffin-cart. The rest of you, keep a sharp lookout.
lt's all right. l'm here now.
The fourth victim, Jonathan Masbath.
l see. And the head ..?
- Taken. - Taken ...
- lnteresting. Very interesting. - What is?
ln cases like this, the head is removed to prevent identification of the body.
- But we know this was Masbath. - Precisely. So why was it removed?
- Why?. - Right.
You have moved the body?. You must never move the body.
- Why not? - Because.
The stride is gigantic!
The attacker rode Masbath down.
Turned his horse. Came back to claim the head.
There's a chemical reaction.
lt shows it was a powerful singular thrust to the neck.
- lnteresting. - What is it?
The wound was cauterised, as though the blade were red-hot.
And yet, no blistering, no scorched flesh.
The Devil's fire.
''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.'' God rest, Jonathan Masbath.
- Mr Constable, sir. - You're young Masbath.
l was young Masbath, but now the only one.
Masbath at your service. ln honour, bound to avenge my father.
Well, l thank you very much, but your mother will need you more than l.
My mother is in heaven. She has my father now to care for her.
But you have no one to serve you. l am your man, sir.
And a brave one, too. But l cannot be the one to look after you.
l am sorry for your loss, young Mr Masbath.
Constable Crane! There's something you should know.
Jonathan Masbath was not the fourth victim, but the fifth.
- The fifth? - Aye. Five victims in four graves.
Masbath, find a place in Van Tassel's servants' quarters. Wake me at dawn.
l hope you have a strong stomach.
Peter Van Garrett, Dirk Van Garrett.
Jonathan Masbath. Five victims, four graves.
The Widow Winship.
Bring the widow in.
- This is most irregular, Constable. - Yes, but in this case necessary.
- l need to operate immediately. - Operate? She's dead.
l mean, of course, l will need the operating table.
Once more, the neck wound cauterised, -
- the sword thrust to the stomach the same, but to what purpose?
To what is your purpose, is the question.
- What type of instruments are these? - Some of my own design.
Step out, young Masbath.
Thank you for your help, Mr Killian. And if you don't mind, Doctor, -
- my concentration suffers greatly when l'm observed.
- l am finished. - What have you done to her?.
- We are dealing with a madman. - What did you find out?
The Widow Winship was with child.
Who's there?
- Oh, pardon my intrusion. - There's no intrusion.
l come here to read when l'm wakeful.
- To read books which you must hide. - They were my mother's books.
My father believes tales of romance caused the brain fever that killed her.
The nurse who cared for her during her sickness is now Lady Van Tassel.
Why did no one mention that the Van Garretts are kin to the Van Tassels?
Hardly a household is not connected to every other by blood or marriage.
l see.
This was Van Garrett land, given to my father when l wore swaddling clothes.
They were the richest family around. When my father brought me here, -
- Van Garrett set him up with an acre and a broken-down cottage.
My father worked hard and prospered. l owe Van Garrett my happiness.
l remember living poor in the cottage.
- Should l show you? - Yes.
- Take this. lt is my gift for you. - No, l have no use for it.
Are you so certain of everything?
- lt was your mother's. - lt is sure protection against harm.
Are you so certain of everything?
What are these strange markings?
l've had them since l can remember.
l used to play by this hearth as a child.
lt was my first drawing school. My mother was my teacher.
Look. See? Carved into the fireback.
The archer. l'd forgotten it.
This was from long before we lived here.
- Are you all right? - Yes, thank you.
A cardinal. l'd love to have a tame one, but l wouldn't have the heart to cage it.
Well, then l have something for you.
Cardinal on one side, an empty cage. And now ...
- You can do magic. Teach me. - lt is no magic. We call it ''optics''.
The pictures are joined in the spinning. Truth is not always appearance.
What are you running from, Philipse? You had a mind to help me.
Yes, and it's put me in dread of powers against which there is no defence.
- You knew the widow was expecting? - She told me.
And you are not the child's father?. Did she tell you the father's name?
Yes. She came to me for advice as town magistrate, -
- to protect the rights of her child. l was bound to keep the secret.
- Do you believe the father killed her?. - The Horseman killed her.
There is no Horseman. There never was. There never will be.
- What is that thing? - My protection from the Horseman.
A magistrate, full of such nonsense! Now tell me the name of ...
Oh, my God!
Constable Crane?
Has he not come out at all?
- lt was a headless horseman! - You must not excite yourself.
- That's why you're here. - A horseman, a dead one, headless!
- l know. - You don't. You weren't there. lt's true!
Of course it is. l told you. Everyone told you.
l saw him.
l suppose it's back to the city, then.
This time l'll go to New York myself. l won't be fobbed off with an amateur.
- This time, a magistrate's dead. - Gentlemen ...
l need able men to go with me into the western woods.
- We thought you'd shot your bolt. - l will find the Horseman's grave.
l will pit myself against a murdering ghost.
Who's with me?
Me.
The Van Garretts, Widow Winship, your father, and now Philipse.
Something must connect them. Did your father deal with the Van Garretts?
He worked for them. We lived in the coach-house.
lt's nothing.
There was an argument between father and son a week before the murder.
My father was later sent for by Mr Van Garrett.
An argument between father and son. Elder Van Garrett sent for his servant ...
Listen.
- l hear nothing. - Nor l.
No birds, no crickets, it's all gone so quiet.
Quicken pace.
Pardon our intrusion, but perhaps you could help us.
- You're from the Hollow. - ln a way, yes.
l make no assumptions about your occupation, -
- nor your ways, which ... which ... which ...
... are nothing to me, whatever you are. Each to his own.
Do you know of the Horseman, ma'am? The Hessian?
That'll be him.
You, come with me.
Go out, child. Keep away. Whatever you hear, keep away.
What might he hear that he must keep away from?
He rides to the Hollow and back. l hear him. l smell the blood on him.
Do you?
Well, l'm here to find him and make him stop.
You seek knowledge of the netherworld. l can show you.
- What are you doing? - Don't move or speak.
- When the other comes, l will hold him. - The other?.
Silence. He comes now.
Madam ...
Madam, do you hear me?
You seek the warrior bathed in blood, the Headless Horseman.
Follow the lndian trail to where the sun dies, to the Tree of the Dead.
Climb down to the Horseman's resting place.
We're leaving. We're leaving now.
- We go to the Tree of the Dead. - How will we recognise it?
Without difficulty, l fear. Then to the Horseman's resting place.
- His camp? - His grave.
Stay here.
Halt and turn, l have a pistol aimed!
Katrina! l might have killed you. Why have you come?
Because no one else would go with you.
Then l am now twice the man. lt is your white magic.
Pardon my intrusion. l think you'd better look at this.
The Tree of the Dead.
Blood.
Stay where you are.
- What is it? - Just stay where you are. Don't move.