Sleepy Hollow as seen on television differs from the plot given in Tim Burton’s film. We have a British double agent who wakes up in the current day after being in a mystical sleep for over a century, rather than a police officer investigating a crime involving a headless horseman. Ichabod Crane is an endearing quirky character because of his ignorance about how society works nowadays.
Abbie Mills arrives as his partner in the battle against mythological evil spirits in the town of Sleepy Hollow. She not only fights demons, but she also assists Ichabod in adjusting to the twenty-first century. The show frequently shifts between current events and the Revolutionary War.
Sleepy Hollow is the ideal combination of supernatural and historical elements. A show about ghosts cannot be expected to be factually accurate, but it can be expected to have some terrible animals. Today, we will take a look at nine of the most terrifying monsters to have appeared on the show.
Wendigo
Abbie was trying to teach Ichabod yoga and alternative ways of blowing steam in the present day. He was still struggling to adapt to the recent times but he preferred the old school method of drinking to loosen up. Abbie runs into Joe Corbin at the bar, and he still holds a grudge against her for not protecting his father.
He was the son of Sheriff Corbin and had expected Abbie to have his back as she respected him as a father figure. Joe had been honorably discharged from his post in Afghanistan after the mysterious death of his platoon members.
As Abbie and Ichabod leave to investigate a complaint, they come across a dead body with its chest ripped open. They find Joe hiding in the corner and learn that a beast is out on the loose which consumes human organs. As they get started to deal with a mystical beast, Abbie gets a call from Irving asking for help in reclaiming his soul from Henry.
They learn that the attacks are the works of a Wendigo, possibly one of the many soldiers of evil unleashed on the town of Sleepy Hollow. Initially, they did suspect someone else to be the beast but all the clues direct to Joe Corbin. To obtain a powerful poison protected by the Corbin family for generations, Henry had placed a curse on him by sending a letter filled with ash.
Joe’s curse was similar to that of a werewolf. Instead of waiting for the full moon, his transformation was triggered by the scent of blood. Learning of Joe’s helplessness in the matter, Abbie wanted to help. While brainstorming a cure for the curse, Ichabod recalled the story of Daniel Boone.
He had searched for a cure to release his brother from a similar curse. While doing their research, they stumble upon a disturbing legend that states the fourth time a human transforms into a wendigo, he gets trapped in that form forever. The Wendigo is a tall hairy beast that charges on all fours.
The cursed human loses control over himself once the transformation has been triggered. It would end up killing whoever is next to them, despite the relationship they share with each other. It has multiple fangs for teeth that help it chew through the organs. The creature can be subdued temporarily by bullets but not killed. The shamans have a cure to release a person from the curse, but it would become ineffective if it’s too late.
Barghest
A woman gets attacked by a creature lurking in the woods while visiting the grave of her brother. Meanwhile, Ichabod makes efforts to get to know the new witness better. He spends time with Diana to pick out presents for Molly’s 11th birthday. Concerned about what Molly’s duties as a witness will entail, Diana offers to fight the monsters on her daughter’s behalf.
She gets a call to investigate a death and leaves Ichabod in charge of Molly. When asked to help her with the history homework, Ichabod gets excited to offer his help. The conversation shifts to what it means to be a witness, and Ichabod feels hesitant to delve into too much detail.
Their session is interrupted when Molly’s father turns up at the door. While investigating the death, Diana observed that the wounds appear to have turned into stone, and the coroner informs her that the internal organs of the victims are petrified.
Initially, Ichabod concludes that the killings around town are caused by a monster as a side effect of destroying the philosopher’s stone. But he is proved wrong once they learn that the attacks had started a week prior to when the stone was destroyed. He realizes that the killings are the work of a Barghest, a beast known to people as the big bad wolf from Little Red Riding Hood.
In the story, he had taken on the form of the grandmother to attack the little girl. Similarly, he had taken on the form of Molly’s father to get close to her. He would often take on the form of humans his victims trusted to lurk around them unsuspected. He wanted to kill Molly after she got her powers as a witness.
But her instincts had already warned her that something was wrong. In his true form, he was as big as a bear and as ferocious as a wolf. In the middle ages, the pilgrims had found themselves fighting against the shape-shifting creature.
They had taken down the creature by sealing it underground with an enchanted Plymouth Rock. But centuries later the beast had managed to release itself and continued his killing spree.
Moloch
Ichabod Crane was one of the soldiers fighting in the Revolutionary War of 1781. The last thing he remembers from the battle is the branding on the hand of the undefeatable soldier he had just beheaded and then he wakes up in a cave centuries later. In the present day, Abbie and Sheriff Corbin continue with their day, as usual, unaware of how their lives are about to change in a couple of hours.
Abbie was excited about her transfer to the FBI, but the Sheriff suspected that she just wanted to run away from the town. They get called into the stables to check what’s disturbing the horses. On arriving at the scene they notice the Stable owner’s corpse and a weapon lying on the ground.
Before they can investigate further, a headless horseman arrives and kills the sheriff. Abbie calls for backup but she’s unable to believe the sight before her. Going by the description of the culprit, the police arrest Ichabod Crane after running into him.
Abbie informs them they have informed the wrong guy as the person who killed the sheriff was a headless horseman wearing a red coat and had a branding mark on his hand. Ichabod is able to recognize the culprit immediately but his statements make the cops doubt his sanity and he is assigned to a mental institution.
Moloch was responsible for trying to trigger the end of the days and constantly sent agents of evil to Sleepy Hollow. He was banished to Purgatory after losing the fight against God. He sent the four horsemen of the apocalypse, including the headless horseman during the Revolutionary War.
The lives of Ichabod and the headless horseman got linked to each other after their blood mixed on the battleground. Ichabod woke up from his century-long slumber when the headless horseman has revived once again. The headless horseman became dead himself after giving his soul to Moloch.
A young Abby had spotted Moloch emerging from the jungle while passing by with her sister. Both of them had noticed something strange about the four white trees and passed out for a couple of days. Upon waking up they noticed a mysterious figure walking at a distance.
Centuries ago, he was spotted by a farmer in the same spot. Moloch was not the devil himself but one of his loyal soldiers and the warden of Purgatory. In his purgatorial form, he had pale skin and hollowed eyes.
He had marks similar to stitches where his mouth should have been and a non-existent nose. He had distinctive horns, similar to a bull. All he wanted to do was bring upon the apocalypse, and he didn’t care about who he used or hurt in the process of doing so.
He was responsible for turning Henry against his parents for abandoning him, while he was the reason he had been separated from them in the first place. He was powerful enough to kill the living and raise the dead. He was responsible for turning the peaceful town of Sleepy Hollow into a magnet for the supernatural.
Golem
The festive season reminded Ichabod about the absence of his family. His wife was trapped in another realm and he had recently learned about the presence of his son. He sought the help of Henry Parish to find answers about what happened to his son. With the help of the sin eater, Ichabod was able to travel to Purgatory to meet his wife and enquire about their child.
But their time is interrupted when a giant monster enters through the door and Ichabod has to return to the land of the living. Katrina had named their son Jeremy, after Ichabod’s grandfather. But she had to give him up to Grace and Joseph, to protect him from Moloch. She had parted with him after gifting him a toy and promising it will keep him safe.
All Ichabod knew about his son was his name and that Abbie’s ancestors were his guardians. After further research, he learned that Jeremy had inherited Katrina’s powers and they were so intense that one night he burnt down the house of his guardians by crying. His involuntary actions made the other people perceive him as a monster and his desire to be protected brought the doll to life as his guardian and protector.
Jeremy was forced to grow up without his parents because of his mother’s coven. Them not being around to help him with his powers made him feel alone and vulnerable. While Jeremy was being tortured by the father of the orphanage, a drop of his blood brought the doll to life.
The Golem protected Jeremy by going after whoever caused him harm. The golem targeted the witches from the coven as they were responsible not only for separating him from his mother but burying him alive. Jeremy’s Golem was vindictive in nature as he was made into a villain by his circumstances.
When a Golem is created by a witch or warlock in their time of need, they take on the nature of their creators. The golem was a gigantic version of the doll given to Jeremy by his mother. It was made of cloth and cotton and looked similar to the ones used in voodoo practices. The only way to stop the Golem was by using Jeremy’s blood as that’s what gave it life.
Djinn
Ichabod is intrigued by the influence of modern technology while he takes Molly out for an event to see Pictagram star, Logan MacDonald. The star faints moments after taking a selfie with Molly as a burning mark appears on his wrist. He is rushed to the hospital and Molly is sent back home. Ichabod leaves to investigate the supernatural influence behind the sudden illness.
While Diane gets called to investigate a crime scene, Jenny offers to look after Molly and teach her more about being a witness. Meanwhile, Alex goes out on a date where the guy insists on showing her a video that has gone viral. As soon as Alex makes up her mind about leaving, her date collapses and a burning mark similar to Logan MacDonald’s appears on his wrists.
Alex and Jake take him to the emergency room where they come across Ichabod. Jake feels better about his germophobia after seeing Ichabod as he would prefer a supernatural illness over Ebola. Alex’s date burns up and bursts into flames.
As the hospital fills up with patients with similar symptoms, it confirms Ichabod’s suspicions about a supernatural influence. Ichabod recalls seeing similar symptoms during the British Invasion of DC. He recalls how a pamphlet had spread a similar disease that caused its readers to burst into flames an hour after reading it.
Back then, the White House had termed the illness ‘influenza invention and it was Paul Jennings who realized that the pamphlets were spreading the illness. It added to Ichabod’s dilemma as pamphlets couldn’t be the cause of the spread in modern times.
When Alex told him about the viral video, they concluded that someone might have included the curse in the code and whoever had watched the video ended up with the sickness. While brainstorming ideas about how to stop the people from watching the viral video Ichabod starts shouting in the middle of the park to instruct people to stay away from their phones.
But no one pays attention to him. Seconds later, he and Diane witness a pedestrian bursting into flames after a triangle with Arabic syllables appears on her back. The symbol alerts them about the involvement of a Djinn. The Djinn was covered from head to toe and only his eyes were visible. He had burnt up most of his victims and gathered some of them underground.
He could control his victims with telepathy and give them instructions. The Djinn had the ability to manipulate fire and minds. He had gathered his victims in a den to engulf them one by one. But he wasn’t invincible and electrocuting him was enough to take the creature down.
Gargoyle
Abbie ends up in an alternate dimension after taking the eye of providence. She had been trapped alone in a cave for almost a year while only a couple of weeks had passed on Earth. The Hidden One was desperate to find the Eye of Providence to restore his powers and Pandora was helping him reach his full potential. It wasn’t only Ichabod who had thought of reaching out to Abbie using Astral Projection, Pandora ended up doing the same.
With Abbie and Ichabod absent, it was up to Jenny and Joe to help Sophia with her investigation. They try to solve the mystery by thinking about how Ichabod and Abby would have reacted to the scene and what steps they would have taken. Sophie had realized that one of the original stone structures from the church was missing and suspected it had somehow come to life and started attacking people.
While trying to profile the creature and find similar appearances through their records, they come across a narrative that mentions Betsy Ross’s fight with the beast. It was the British who had sent the creature to gain some advantage during the war. It was up to Jenny and Joe to figure out a way to stop the Gargoyle.
The Gargoyle was part of the Stone Manor that had been shifted from France to America. Gargoyles are a common appearance in architectural structures as there are myths about them being the guardians of structures. They are supposed to ward off evil and protect humans from harm.
However, the Gargoyle of Stone Manor was no such being. It had been attacking the restoration workers and had been used as a weapon by the British during the war. After coming face to face with the beast, they had decided to defeat the creature by immobilizing him.
They lured him into a pit full of wet cement and buried him under there. While the Gargoyle had been defeated, the threat of the Hidden One and Pandora was still out there.
Ro’kenhronteys
Abbie has a prophetic nightmare about her younger self being interrogated by Ichabod. During the interrogation, she is being told to share the truth as Ichabod’s eyes turn white. She is startled awake as she gets called to investigate a scene. She is informed that the victim is about to attempt suicide and the only person she is willing to communicate with is Abbie.
While Abbie reaches out to her, she learns that the victim is Maura Vega, and had appeared in her nightmare. She was the psychiatrist in charge of Jenny and despite knowing she was telling the truth, she kept Jenny institutionalized. The guilt was too much for her to bear and her eyes had turned white like Ichabod’s in her nightmare.
She confesses about not helping her sister, despite knowing she was telling the truth and jumps from the building. When goes to examine the corpse with Ichabod, the whitened eyes explode into the sand. Abbie was still coming to terms with being a witness and despite having a prophetic dream, she was skeptical about her role. The spike in civilian suicides has them questioning the involvement of a dream monster.
The Ro’kenhronteys, also known as the Sandman, is the monster of nightmares. He is known to visit people in their dreams and use their guilt to overwhelm them into taking their own lives. His victims often end up with white eyes and they can see the monster everywhere. In the Native American legends, his stories were told to children to scare them into living in the righteous path.
He has pale white skin and hollowed black eyes. He is made entirely of sand and has no other facial features. He uses the guilt of the people as a justifiable means to punish them. He had used Dr. Maura’s guilt for ignoring Jenny and another person for not telling the truth about what he witnessed in the woods. He was primarily targeting Abbie and had almost got to her for the guilt of bailing on her sister.
Ichabod and Abbie had sought the help of a Native American Shaman to visit him in the dream world. But it is the Sandman who controls the world and he decides which nightmare to trap his victims in.
There’s a symbol that can be used to repel and defeat the Sandman even if it is in his own world. Being in control of the dream world lets him manipulate the people and objects according to his will. He could cause some severe pain or use telekinesis to move objects around. He haunted his victims till their last breath.
Onryo
Abbie’s absence was heavily felt after she sacrificed herself to save her sister. Her loss was haunting them all but Ichabod was not ready to let go of her. He had enraged two apocalyptic cults by stealing the Gideon Jug. According to a legend revolving around the artifact, it was said that Orpheus has used it to find someone from the underworld.
They weren’t the only ones searching for Abbie, the FBI was investigating her disappearance as well. Ichabod had become a person of interest because of their partnership. While the humans worried about Abbie, the Hidden One was saddened by how humans had infested the world.
Seeing him frail, Pandora assured him that she was going to restore his strength. Ichabod dwells on the past about an incident where he wasn’t able to help his partner and helplessness at the situation reminded him of his present circumstance. While Ichabod attempts the ritual with the Jug to find Abbie, Sophie sneaks up to him.
She suspects Ichabod to be the reason behind her disappearance and questions him about the same. Sophie returns to her office after she failed the attempt and encourages her partner to take a break at a cabin in the woods. As Ichabod struggles to cook dinner, he is interrupted by a sudden noise. He goes to check the noise and finds the message ‘Help me, Crane’ written in the mirror.
He thinks Abbie is calling out for his help but he gets disrupted by the hands emerging from the mirror. He struggles to let go of the hold and ends up with a branded mark on his wrist. He gets a call from Sophie, and she was furious at the prank she thought Crane had pulled on her.
He arrives at her place to see the same message written on her floor and a similar mark appearing on her wrist. The symbol glows after they put their hands together and a smoke-like figure emerges. It passes through Ichabod, and he collapses after seeing a vision of Abbie. He could sense her presence and felt that she was dying. But in truth, he was so desperate to save his partner that he had unleashed an evil presence onto the world.
The figure emerging from the mirror was an Onrya. According to Japanese legends, she was the demon of vengeance. Usually, they are the spirits of women who have been wronged and sought revenge. But she had been sent to feed off the desperation of those wanting to search for Abbie and go after them.
She manipulated Ichabod’s desperation into making him think she was Abbie. Once they realized who her next victim was, they tracked her down. They used pieces of the mirror she came from to send her back into one. Sophie broke the mirror she ran into and trapped her in the other world.
Tree Monster
Lena Gilbert arrives at Sleepy Hollow to examine the estate she has secured the titles to. The old property, now resembling a haunted house, had once belonged to her ancestor and she interned to restore it to its previous glory. Excitedly, she wanders into the house, but she is welcomed by the roots of a live tree growing in the closet that captures her.
Ichabod wasn’t feeling the holiday spirit and he saw it as a reminder of how lonely he was without his wife. As he continues to dwell in self-pity, Irving calls them in for a missing person case. Lena Gilbert was reported missing after her absence at a fundraiser.
She was the descendant of one of the founding fathers. Irving thought the case would be of interest as it seemed to be linked to Ichabod’s wife. The GPS tracker at Lena’s car was last tracked near Sleepy Hollow. Upon arriving at the manor, Ichabod realized he had been there before.
The property used to be owned by the Fredericks, who had hosted the Cranes as guests before. Back then, Ichabod wasn’t aware of his wife’s involvement with witchcraft or Frederik being a warlock. The manor was a safe place for former slaves and those seeking protection from supernatural forces.
Upon finding his wife’s favorite book on the property, he becomes more invested in the case. He was saddened to see the current condition of the property as once it was full of life. They suspect the involvement of something evil behind the tragic fate of the estate.
They do find Lena alive but covered behind branches in the closet. The branches appear to bleed as Abbie pulls them off while rescuing Lena. After freeing her, Ichabod enquires about Katrina’s name in Lena’s notes and learns that she was the last person to seek refuge in this house. Before they could safely escape, the house had begun to act strange and all the doors were slammed shut.
While trying to find a way out, Abbie is guided by the spirit of her ancestor, who shows her a way out. She shows Abby that Katrina had arrived to seek protection while giving birth. But as soon as her child arrived, a tree growing inside the house somehow came to life and started attacking the people in the house.
It endangered the life of Katrina and her newborn. Lachlan tries to protect them but gets killed by the living tree. Moloch had found a loophole around the hexes at Frederick’s estate as the tree had grown inside the property.
Ichabod was still processing the news about his wife giving birth but he was enraged at the Tree Monster for going after his son as soon as he was born. He began to chop off the roots of the tree furiously as blood splattered across his face. He killed the Tree Monster to avenge the attack made on his newborn son.