Sleepy Hollow: Legend & Creative Liberties

As this second post is typed up, I realize three things were left out in the previous post which were revealed in the first episode. Yes, there are many more details missed, but for sake of blogging and keeping things short, I felt these were the most important.

1. Ichabod and the Headless Horseman are bound together by a spell Katrina put on them
2. When Abbie and her sister, Jenny, were younger they saw a demon and four white trees (symbolizing the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse) in the woods
3. As Abbie goes through Sheriff August Corbin’s office, she finds his investigative files and recordings for the demon prior to his death

That said, when it comes to the words “sleepy hollow” people will instantly think of the legend, the place or both. When it comes to the legend here are a few things that should be known:

• Elements from the short story were most likely take from old German folklore
• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was written by Washington Irving, which was first published in 1820. Read on for more of Washington Irving’s life.



Washington Irving's Legend of Sleepy Hollow cover art

• To quickly summarize: Ichabod Crane lived in the town of Sleepy Hollow as a schoolteacher who lusts after Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter of the town’s wealthiest farmer, and realizes marrying her is the only way to gain her wealth. However, he must compete with Abraham “Brom Bones” Van Brunt, for Katrina’s hand in marriage. During a party at the Van Tassel’s home, Ichabod is told ghost stories by Brom, and after Ichabod is unsuccessful at winning Katrina’s love, goes home defeated and melancholy. Allowing his mind to wander, Ichabod comes across another horse rider, but to his horror, the man is without a head. Ichabod hastily tries to escape and in the middle of it, the horseman hurls his head at him. The next day, Ichabod is nowhere to be found and the only items that remain are horse tracks, his hat and a pumpkin that has been smashed.

It has been almost a century since the first film adaption (1922,The Headless Horseman), and since then, there have been over a dozen film or television adaptations, and many more that include references to the headless horseman. Throughout the various remakes, directors and producers have taken to quite a bit of creative liberties. In Fox’s latest version, two things straight from the basic plot summary have been revised.

Firstly, there is no mention (so far) of Brom Bones and secondly, in this Sleepy Hollow, Ichabod did indeed marry Katrina. So one can only wonder, will we, as the viewers, ever get a glimpse at Brom Bones? Has Ichabod married Katrina only so she fits into the storyline? In this remake she is a witch who kept that from Ichabod. What else has she been hiding from her husband, and can she truly be trusted?

There is however, an obvious nod to the famous author, Washington Irving, the police captain’s last name. The storyline so far is also vastly different from the short story in order to create the series and one can only wonder what other elements will be taken from the original.