Sleepy Hollow

Continuity mistake: When Ichabod Crane and young Masbath are riding to the Tree of the Dead for the first time, watch the boy's horse carefully. The camera pans behind a tree and when it comes out from behind it, for a second you can only see Gunpowder's haunches (Gunpowder being the grey that Ichabod rides) and not the chesnut's. Very hard to spot if you are not watching carefully.

Continuity mistake: Crane sprinkles a powder on the ground under the severed neck of Masbeth. Smoke comes up and he says something about a chemical reaction. Masbeth was running at full speed when killed, his body must have traveled at least his body length forward and maybe a few feet more, so there would be no blood under his neck as the Horseman decapitated him while he was standing and his blade cauterized all the neck tissue, veins and arteries.

Grumpy Scot

Continuity mistake: When Ichabod arrives at Jonathan Masbath's murder scene, he selects a small bottle full of green powder to begin his investigation. The amount in the bottle changes from half-full to full in between shots.

Continuity mistake: During the sequence where Ichabod and The Horseman are fighting on top of the carriage, it's quite obvious that the two horses Masbeth and Katrina are riding keep changing colour. Sometimes they are both dark brown but sometimes Katrina's is dark brown and Masbeth's is white.

Jack Vaughan

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Suggested correction: Some horse breeds, like an appaloosa, waere used in the film - like the horse 'Gunpowder'. They have darker colored front halves and legs while their back end is white. Most likely Gunpowder is one of the horses used in this scene. There is one shot, taken from the side of the horse during this chase segment, where you can see this marking, his front is dark and his back end is white. Horses aren't changing, just the camera angles on the horse.

Continuity mistake: When Peter Van Garret's son gets his head chopped off Peter Van Garret looks out of the window. In the close-up his mouth opens in a gasp. Then it goes to a long shot showing the son with no head and Peter Van Garret's mouth is suddenly closed and then he gasps again in the exact same way.

Continuity mistake: At the end of the movie, after Ichabod gives the Horseman back his head, he and Katrina are shown standing next to each other, and her hair is completely down around her face. It then goes to a shot of them from behind, watching the Horseman, and her hair is pulled back. Next shot of them from the front, it's all down again.

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Crane and the Headless Horseman are fighting atop the moving carriage, Crane shoots at the horseman, leaving a mark on the roof of the carriage. In the next shots, the mark is gone.

Continuity mistake: When Ichabod is investigating Johnathon Masbeth's death, he notes that the neck wound was cauterized immediately, which explains why there's no signs of bleeding. At the beginning of the movie, when Van Garret is killed by the Horseman, a splash of blood is shown hitting the pumpkin that is used for the scarecrow.

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Suggested correction: Blood is constantly circulating throughout the body. While the neck wound itself is cauterized, if there is a buildup of blood in an area such as the jugular or the trachea, there will logically be a splash of blood. You actually see the same thing happen when the Horseman kills Jonathan Masbeth and Mr. Killian.

Phaneron

Continuity mistake: At the funeral of Jonathan Masbath, there are many shots between Ichabod, Brom and Katrina. There are a few people between Ichabod, Katrina, and Brom. When Ichabod looks over at the other two, the people are gone. Then when they show another overall view, the people are back.

Sleepy Hollow mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Katrina faints after having seen his father being killed by the Headless Horseman, Ichabod notices a pink chalk fallen from her hand changing position in another shot from an overhead shot.

Continuity mistake: After the Hessian, carrying Lady Van Tassel on his horse, jumps back into the tree, her hand is prominently displayed sticking out of the roots. Ichabod faints and it cuts to a wide shot of the entire tree. You can see where the Horseman jumped into the tree but Lady Van Tassel's hand is not there.

Continuity mistake: When Ichabod is being told the history of the Horseman, it shows the Horseman meeting the two Van Tassel children. After the Horseman motions for them to stay silent, young Lady Van Tassel raises the branch that she's holding and snaps it in half. Later, when Lady Van Tassel tells Katrina everything, another flashback seen occurs that shows a young Van Tassel simply breaking the branch without raising it first.

Continuity mistake: At the start of the movie where Ichabod is at the City of New York Municipal Watchhouse there is a medieval device to Ichabod's left, which is open and empty. In the following shot, there is a man standing inside with the doors closed around him.

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Suggested correction: It doesn't bounce off the dirt, it slightly bounces off his chest plate, as physics would dictate.

Phaneron

More mistakes in Sleepy Hollow

Ichabod Crane: Villainy wears many masks, none so dangerous as the mask of virtue.

More quotes from Sleepy Hollow
More trivia for Sleepy Hollow

Question: Why was The Headless Horseman ordered to kill the Killian family including their incredibly young son?

Answer: As revealed by Lady Van Tassel to Katrina during the film's climax, the midwife Mrs. Killian was abreast of the secrets regarding the affairs of Peter Van Garrett with the widow Winship, as well as their unborn child. Mrs. Killian revealed this secret to Lady Van Tassel right in front of Mr. Killian, which signed both of their death warrants. However, Lady Van Tassel most likely commanded the Headless Horseman to kill the Killians (as opposed to just saying Mr. & Mrs. Killian), to which the Horseman would instinctively murder their child too. It may have been an oversight on the part of Lady Van Tassel, as the child would undoubtedly be ignorant of affairs and the intricacies of legal matters regarding wills, but then again, she probably didn't care anyway.

Phaneron

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