- "Send Moloch my regards."
- —Ichabod Crane, shortly before killing the Tree Monster
"Sanctuary" is the ninth episode of Season One of Fox's Sleepy Hollow. It was written by Damian Kindler & Chitra Elizabeth Sampath and directed by Liz Friedlander. It is the ninth episode of the series overall, and debuted on November 25, 2013.
Synopsis[]
When Crane and Abbie investigate a missing persons case, the search leads to a colonial-era house which holds secrets from Ichabod's past... and unleashes a long-dormant evil.[1]
Recap[]
A young woman of obvious means and her bodyguard/chauffeur, Sam, pull up to an expansive but run down estate. The young woman is chattering excitedly on the phone to someone about how it has taken her five years to secure the title to the property, and she wants to restore the home to its original grandeur. The home belonged to an ancestor and she's pleased to bring it back to the family. She rushes inside despite her bodyguard's warning. She opens a closet and discovers twisted roots inside. As she reaches in, the branches become shackles and she is screaming as she is, taken prisoner by a malignant growth.
Crane is suffering from a bad case of the holiday blues. It's bad enough he can't be with his wife during a time of thanks and celebration, but he is constantly bombarded with reminders that he's alone, but he tells Abbie not to be offended, that her company holds the greatest value to him. Abbie tells him he has every right to be upset given all he has lost, and what are holidays for if not for airing our grievances? Crane is finding it hard to be thankful when all of the hopes he had about his future with Katrina appear to be irrevocably dashed.
Crane and Abbie are called in by Irving to look into a missing person case. The woman in question, Lena Gilbert, is a young, wealthy philanthropist and socialite whose lineage goes back to the Founding Fathers. When she didn't show up at a fundraiser in Washington DC, the senate majority leader contacted Irving personally to check on her whereabouts. Irving thinks Abbie and Crane might have a special interest in the case because the woman's assistant faxed over a note from the missing woman's desk with "Katrina C." written on it. Her assistant also tracked the GPS on her boss' car, and the trail stops in Sleepy Hollow.
While Abbie is reserving judgement that the Katrina in question is Crane's wife, he tells her, "Oh, you've surely come to realize by now...that when the two of us are involved, rarely is a coincidence a coincidence." Crane asks Abbie to do an Internet search on Miss Gilbert's ancestry, particularly landowners dating back to his era. Crane makes a connection when Abbie mentions Lena's mother's maiden name was Fredericks. He mentions Fredericks Manor, named for Lachlan Fredericks, a member of the Continental Congress and a keen supporter of the war effort.
This leads them to the house that nobody has inhabited for more than a few weeks since Lachlan Fredericks' day. Crane is shocked by the appearance of the home he and Katrina once visited. All he knew of Lachlan was he was a friend of Washington and a staunch abolitionist. They enter the house and discover Sam, dead. They suspect Lena might still be alive, so Abbie calls for backup but can't get through, nor can she get a cell phone signal. She tries to head outside for better reception, but the doors and shutters all slam shut, preventing their exit, and Abbie is not happy, "I am saying that haunted houses do not work for me!" Crane doesn't know what the house wants with them, or Lena if she's alive, so he surmises the best course of action is to try and locate Lena. Crane points out that they've survived worse threats than a haunted house, but Abbie is unhappy.
Crane discovers a copy of Gulliver's Travels, his wife's favorite novel, and inside is her name and a letter he wrote to her the morning he faced the Horseman in 1781. Crane had asked an aide to deliver it if he were to fall in battle. He says this would have been done several days later. Crane takes this as a sign that they were meant to find it. Abbie revisits the history of the house, questioning what it was like. Crane tells her of his first meeting with the owner; in addition to being a safe house for escaped slaves, Crane now realizes it may have also been a sanctuary from evil. He suggests a demonic force could have caught up with Lachlan and his wife, targeted them and turned the house from a sanctuary into a prison. Abbie hypothesizes that if something nefarious had it out for Lachlan, the same could be said of Lena since she is his descendant.
They find blood, and finally discover Lena alive but imprisoned in the closet. They free her and try to find an exit. Crane finds time to question Lena about the note about "Katrina C." She confirms it was Katrina Crane; she found Katrina's name on a registry from the late 1700's, the last person to come to the house for sanctuary before it was abandoned. Abbie questions Lena's interest in the mansion. She says the place has always been a family mystery; they didn't know what happened to it or to Lachlan. Lena tells them that when she found the registry with Katrina's name, she thought she might have found the key to unlocking the truth, so she bought the manor and came to Sleepy Hollow hoping things would make sense.
Lena acknowledges rumors in the family of Lachlan being involved in witchcraft, and Crane tells Lena that if her ancestor was a warlock, using witchcraft to protect those seeking refuge on his property, perhaps he was a member of Katrina's coven, whom he refers to as "a relative." Crane believes a malevolent being bested Lachlan and infested the house. Abbie is certain that whatever happened, Katrina was definitely involved. Crane tells Lena that any research she's done on the house might hold the answer, but she tells them all the information she gathered is in New York.
After cutting through a hidden passage in the walls, Abbie gets separated from Lena and Crane, who are then surprised by a tree monster. They then find themselves caught by a murder of crows, after which Lena is dragged off by the creature. Abbie finds a much more amiable ghost, the previous matron of the house, Grace Dixon. The vision leads Abbie to the to a bedroom where she witnesses Katrina giving birth to a son. She also sees that the evil breached the wards of the house the minute the baby drew breath.
When Abbie finally reunites with Crane, she feels the news important enough to share. Crane is utterly gutted, his stunned response is a denial, he tells Abbie she must be mistaken because Katrina would have told him she was expecting. Abbie gently points out that maybe Katrina had no choice but to keep the baby a secret. Lachlan did everything he could to protect Katrina and her son, but died when he attempted to confront the creature.
Crane begged to know what happened to his son, but Abbie could not tell him. Their conversation is interrupted by a scream, and the two head into a cellar to see Lena apparently standing alone. She is grabbed by the creature, and Abbie shoots at the demon's roots. It frees Lena, and while searching for an exit, Abbie has another vision of Katrina. She sees that Katrina and the baby escaped unharmed, but the vision shows her a secret passageway. All three make it out of the house, but Crane is not done. With a face like thunder, he takes and axe and heads back inside, warning Abbie not to follow. Inside Crane goes after the demon with a vengeance, "Did you think you could attack those I love without consequence?! That you could come for my wife? My child?! Give Moloch my regards." The demon is cut down, and Crane covered in its blood-like sap. All Abbie can say when he emerges is, "My God!"
In the aftermath, Abbie receives a box from Lena Gilbert containing information about Fredericks' Manor. Of particular interest is the family tree of Grace Dixon. Abbie discovers she's a descendant. Abbie's ancestor brought Crane's son into the world. Crane smiles at his friend, "It seems that you and I our paths were intertwined from the very start."
Cast[]
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Trivia[]
Title[]
- Both the US and Japanese title refer to the same thing, the Fredericks Manor. The US title is named for Katrina's nickname for the said manor while the Japanese title described the eventual fate of the place.
- Damian Kindler launched in May 2007 the independent web series Sanctuary, which was later picked up for television by The Movie Network in Canada and Syfy in the United States.
Body Count[]
- Sam Calvern - Killed by the Tree Monster.
- Lachlan Fredericks - Killed by the Tree Monster.
- Tree Monster - Chopped apart by Ichabod Crane.
International Titles[]
| International Titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Language: | Title: | Translation: |
| French | "Le Mal en la demeure" | "Evil in the house" |
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