n 1799, New York City police constable Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp) is deployed to

the Westchester County hamlet of Sleepy Hollow, New York, which has been plagued by a
series of brutal slayings in which the victims are found decapitated: Peter Van Garrett (Martin
Landau), a wealthy farmer; his son Dirk; and the widow Emily Winship. Crane learns that locals
believe the killer is the undead apparition of a headless Hessian mercenary from the American
Revolutionary War who rides a black steed in search of his missing head.
Crane begins his investigation, remaining skeptical about the paranormal elements until he
actually encounters the Headless Horseman, who kills the town magistrate, Samuel Phillipse
(Richard Griffiths). Boarding at the home of the town's richest family, the Van Tassels, Crane is
taken with their daughter, Katrina (Christina Ricci). Crane and Young Masbath, the son of one of
the Horseman's victims, go to the cave dwelling of a reclusive witch. She reveals the location of
the Tree of the Dead, which marks the Horseman's grave, as well as his portal into the natural,
living world.
Crane discovers that the ground is freshly disturbed and the Horseman's skull is missing. That
night, the family of the village midwife is killed by the Horseman and Katrina's suitor, Brom van
Brunt (Casper Van Dien) is also killed trying to stop the Horseman. The Horseman doesn't
attempt to interact with or harm van Brunt until he has no choice; from this, Crane hypothesizes
that the Horseman is attacking select targets, and that whoever dug up and stole the skull is the
person controlling the Horseman.
Crane starts to believe that a conspiracy links all the deaths together, so he looks into Van
Garrett's last will. Van Garrett had made a new will just before he died, leaving all his
possessions to his secret new bride, Emily Winship, whom Crane discovers was pregnant with
Van Garrett's child. Crane deduces that all who knew about the new will, the marriage and the
pregnancy were the victims of the Horseman and that Katrina's father Baltus Van Tassel
(Michael Gambon), who would have inherited the fortune, is the person holding the skull.
Katrina, finding out that Crane suspects her father, burns all the evidence that Crane has
accumulated.
A council is held in the church. The Horseman seemingly kills Katrina's stepmother, Lady Van
Tassel, and heads off to the church to get Baltus. Crane realizes the Horseman can't enter the
church due to it being holy ground. A fight breaks out between the village elders in the church
resulting in the deaths of Reverend Steenwyck and Doctor Lancaster, only ending when the
Horseman harpoons Baltus through a window, dragging him out and acquiring his head. The
next day, Crane believes Katrina to be the one who controls the Headless Horsemen.
Crane later becomes suspicious when he realizes the diagram made by Katrina he thought
summoned the Horseman is really one of protection, and also that the corpse of Lady Van
Tassel has a wound that seems to have been caused post-mortem. The corpse is revealed as
that of a servant when Lady Van Tassel (Miranda Richardson) emerges alive to ambush
Katrina. Lady Van Tassel tells Katrina that her family was driven from their ancestral home by
the Van Garretts, who then sold it to the Van Tassels. She proceeded to pledge her soul
to Satan and become a witch, summoning the Horseman to kill Van Garrett, his son, new wife,
unborn child, and every villager who knew about his new will, marriage, and child, in order to be
able to claim everything that she deemed to be rightfully hers uncontested. She then sends the
Horseman after Katrina to remove the last obstacle to inheriting the combined Van Garrett and
Van Tassel estates.
Following a fight and a stagecoach chase, Crane eventually thwarts Lady Van Tassel by
throwing the skull to the Horseman, who reattaches his head to his body and breaks Lady Van
Tassel's curse. The Horseman, no longer under her control, hoists Van Tassel up on his horse
and gives her a bloody kiss against her will.[4] He then rides to Hell, taking her with a smile,
fulfilling her end of the deal with the Devil. Crane returns home to New York City with Katrina
and Young Masbath, just in time for the new century.

Versi Indonesia

Sleepy Hollow adalah sebuah cerita rakyat atau legenda tentang hantu tanpa kepala yang
membunuh dengan mengambil kepala korbannya. Kisahnya dimulai dengan ditugaskannya
detektif muda bernama Ichabod Crane untuk memecahkan kasus pembunuhan yang konon
melibatkan setan kesatria tanpa kepala. Cara Ichabod melakukan investigasi berbeda dari
detektif lain pada masa itu karena iya melakukan forensik untuk memecahkan kasusnya bukan
memberi hukuman agar ada pengakuan.

Seorang hakim New York yang brengsek sampai kehabisan kesabaran menghadapi Crane
sehingga menyuruh polisi idealis itu untuk menyelidiki sederet pembunuhan aneh di daerah
pedalaman Sleepy Hollow. Kepala para korban pembunuhan aneh itu dipotong dan dibawa pergi
pembunuhnya sehingga para warga Sleepy Hollow yang hampir seluruhnya merupakan
keturunan Belanda hanya menemukan para jasad korban tanpa kepala. Teror kejahatan itu
dipercayai oleh penduduk desa itu dilakukan oleh hantu penunggang kuda tanpa kepala,
“Headless Horseman” yang merupakan legenda daerah itu.

Kabarnya hantu itu membalas dendam atas pembunuhannya dahulu. Tentu saja Crane yang
merasa sebagai orang rasionalis tidak percaya pada keyakinan para warga desa Sleepy Hollow
itu. Sayangnya kedatangan Crane disambut dingin oleh para warga Sleepy Hollow termasuk
warga kelas elit seperti hakim ataupun Baltus Van Tassel, tuan tanah terbesar wilayah itu.
Untunglah ada segelintir orang bersedia membantunya karena ingin teror itu berakhir seperti
Katrina Van Tassel (Christina Ricci). Crane dan Katrina saling jatuh cinta, namun membuat
seorang pria muda, Brom Van Brunt (Casper Van Dien) yang mencintai Katrina, cemburu dan
benci kepada Crane.

Mampukah Crane menemukam pembunuh yang suka memotong dan membawa kepala
korbannya ? Mungkinkah memang ada hantu penunggang kuda tanpa kepala di Sleepy Hollow ?

Film ini dibahas secara berat dan akan memberi pengetahuan pengujian forensik dari Ichabod
dengan alat-alat kuno nan antik tersebut. Film yang horor sebenernya tetapi dibuat menarik dari
peran yang dimainkan oleh Johnny Depp. Film ini akan terasa bosan bila kita kurang mendalami
filmnya tetapi akan menjadi seru bila sebaliknya. So let’s Watch
 Synopsis versi 2

 In 1799, New York City police constable Ichabod Crane is dispatched by his superiors to the
Hudson Highlands hamlet of Sleepy Hollow, to investigate a series of brutal slayings in
which the victims have been found beheaded. A frequent user of new, though so far
unproven investigative techniques such as finger-printing and autopsies, Crane arrives in
Sleepy Hollow armed with his bag of scientific tools only to be informed by the town's elders
that the murderer is not of flesh and blood, rather a headless supernatural warrior from
beyond the grave who rides at night on a massive black steed.

Crane does not believe them and begins his own investigation, until he comes face to "face"
with the Headless Horseman. Boarding a room at the home of the town's richest family, the
Van Tassels, Crane develops an attraction to their daughter, the mysterious Katrina, even
as he is plagued by nightmares of his mother's horrific torture under his zealous preacher
father when he was a child.

Delving further into the mystery with the aid of the orphaned Young Masbeth, whose father
was a victim of the Horseman, Crane discovers within the Western Woods both the
Horseman's entry point between this world and the beyond, the gnarled Tree of the Dead
with the heads of his victims within, and his grave. Ichabod discovers the horsemans skull is
missing. The horsemen comes out of the tree and rides into town, taking two more victims.
As the horseman leaves the house, It passes ichabod without killing him. Brom arrives and
shoots at him; still the horseman doesnt try to kill him or brom. Brom finnaly pulls out a
sword and duels with him, and the horseman finnaly kills brom. This prompts Crane to
realise that someone must be using the skull to control the Horseman rather than the
Horseman committing these murders of his own accord.

Although evidence is briefly revealed suggesting that Katrina is the villain, Crane uncovers a
murky plot revolving around revenge and land rights with the Horseman controlled by
Katrina's stepmother, Lady Van Tassel, who sends the killer after her; her stepmother's
family lost their land when her father died and it was given to Katrina's father, the young
girl witnessing the Horseman's death and promising her soul to Satan if he would allow her
to control the Horseman to avenge her family. Following a fight in the local windmill and a
stagecoach chase through the woods, Crane eventually thwarts Lady Van Tassel by
returning the skull to the Horseman, who regains his head and goes back to Hell along with
Lady Van Tassel. With His job in Sleepy Hollow completed, Crane returns to New York with
Katrina and Young Masbeth, just in time for the new century.
RANGKUMAN

In the early United States of America, young policeman Ichabod Crane is sent to from New
York to the fledgling settlement of Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of ghoulish
murders. On his arrival, the town council informs him that the three victims were killed in
open ground, and the heads had disappeared - taken by a headless ghost that is supposedly
responsible. Ichabod is unconvinced of this, but learns more about the ghostly horseman - it
is the ghost of a Hessian sent by the British during the revolutionary war, and he was
caught by redcoats and decapitated with his own sword. When Ichabod sees the ghost kill
one of the town council members, his skepticism evaporates - and he soon discovers that
the horseman's ghost has an unholy connection to Balthus Van Tassel, a wealthy farmer -
and whose daughter Ichabod is falling in love with...