Sleepy Hollow S1E9 - "Sanctuary" Recap

A girl named Lena drives up to an old home apparently part of her family. She's wealthy and seemingly important, as demonstrated by her bodyguard. The bodyguard, Sam, comments that the place looks haunted but she ignores him and heads inside. He follows close behind her and when he opens a closet, she finds a large amount of vines in it. Suddenly, they spring to life and begin grabbing hold of her.

It's nearly Thanksgiving and both Ichabod and Abbie don't have much family to spend it with. Ichabod pokes holes in the inaccuracies of the modern Thanksgiving practices. They then get news about Lena's abduction and when Ichabod learns that she is a billionaire, he is astounded that such a large sum of money could exist. Interestingly enough, Katrina's name is signed on a piece of paper on Lena's desk and after Abbie does some research on her ancestry, Ichabod realises who her ancestors were and knows where she would have went. They visit the house that we saw her visit and find her car still out front.

Flashback to Katrina and Ichabod visiting the estate. At the time, it was safe haven for slaves and those that went there would work by choice since they were treated better there. Back to the present, Ichabod and Abbie enter the home. They find the body guard dead on a chair. Abbie says it looks like an animal attack. They try to leave the house but then all the doors begins to shut them in. Abbie asks, "Are we in a damn haunted house?"

Abbie sees the ghost of a woman walk by and Ichabod doesn't know what she saw. He assures her after all they have faced, they should be able to handles this. Abbie feels that this has crossed the line of what she can handle. Ichabod finds a copy of Gulliver's Travels identical to one that Katrina had. When he opens it, he finds a letter he wrote to Katrina on the day he faced the Horseman. They encounter some birds and hear some creepy laughter. Ichabod has a theory that the home was also a sanctuary against supernatural evils.

They follow a blood trail and find Lena in a closet. Ichabod tries to cut her free from the branches and the branch begins to bleed. Then, a tree outside comes to life and begins walking to the house. Ichabbie finally manage to get Lena free and Ichabod is able to calm her down.

Jenny visits Irving and returns a gun she stole from him. She invites him over for a dinner that she's throwing to thank Abbie for taking her in. Irving is then visited by his ex-wife and daughter.

Lena tells Ichabod that Katrina Crane was the last person recorded to have come to the house for sanctuary. Lena wanted to find out what happened to her great great granddad and says there was a rumour that her ancestor was involved in witchcraft. Ichabod speculates that perhaps he was in Katrina's coven. The tree monster has gotten inside and begins stalking them. They find a hidden door inside the walls. Ichabod and Lena find themselves separated from Abbie. When he thinks she's right behind them and they get out of the walls, he reaches back to give her a hand out but it's the tree monster. Oops. Abbie manages to smash her way out of the wall elsewhere in the house. She encounters a ghost of a woman who worked at the house when Katrina and Ichabod visited.

Macy, Irving's daughter, chats with Jenny about the unpleasantness of growing up with her dad and that it's easier now that she's more so with her mum. Jenny tells her to give her dad a chance, saying he's not a completely terrible person. Irving's ex-wife speaks with him about how this current arrangement isn't working, saying that he's working now more than ever than he did when he was in the city. The precinct is smaller than the place he last worked but he hasn't spent much time with his daughter. She warns him that she will file for full custody if he doesn't shape up his parenting. We also learn that Macy wasn't born paraplegic, but became so in an accident.

Abbie has a vision of the ghost during her life tending to Katrina as she gave birth to a baby boy. Katrina had a baby after Ichabod "died," say what??? Abbie is reunited with Ichabod who tells her that the tree creature took Lena away. She tells him about her vision and that Ichabod is in denial at first. In a flashback, we see Katrina arriving at the house and Abbie talks him through the logic. The protective hex on the property would have been hopefully kept Katrina and her baby safe. Ichabod learns that the baby was a boy. Abbie then tells him the rest of her vision. Immediately after the birth, ravens begin slamming against the window. The tree creature then rose, sent by Moloch, and the evil attacked as soon as the baby was born. Ichabod asks what happened to his son and Abbie says she doesn't know.

They hear a scream coming from the basement and they head down in search of it. They find Lena and the tree creature grabs hold of her. Ichabod realises that the roots that had previously held Lena captive are a source of pain for the creature. Abbie shoots at them and Lena is able to get to Ichabod. The ghost guides Abbie to an exit through the wall. Ichabod and Lena follow her and they're able to get out of the house. They get to Abbie's car and Ichabod retrieve an axe from the trunk. Ichabod is determined to go after it, since it went after his son, and ignores Abbie's pleas for him to not go back inside. Ichabod tells her not to follow him.

Inside, Ichabod lights up two flairs and is eventually attacked by the creature. He begins hacking at roots and shouts at the creature for going after his wife and son. He tells the creature to give Moloch his regards and delivers the final fatal blow to the tree monster. Ichabod heads back outside covered in tree blood and tells Abbie he would like to go home now.

Abbie brings Ichabod various items for Thanksgiving, including his favourite rum. They have one of their heart-to-hearts as they discuss Thanksgiving and their lives. Ichabod then shows her a box that arrived for her and it is from Lena. Inside is all the research Lena had gathered. Upon looking at a family tree, they find that Grace Dixon, the ghost that Abbie had been guided by was her ancestor. As it turns out, Abbie's ancestor is the one that helped to bring Ichabod's son into the world. Talk about fate. They then toast to family for Thanksgiving.

Sleepy Hollow airs on Mondays on FOX at 9PM.