'Sleepy Hollow' Season 1, Episode 9: 'Sanctuary' Recap

A woman on her cell phone pulls up to a home - one of the oldest homes in the area, and belonging to her family. She finally got a hold of the deed after five years of trying.

Her bodyguard notes it looks haunted, but Lena is excited about the history of the home, and goes inside. She wants to restore it as much as possible. She opens a closet door, and finds it full of branches. She tries to pull them out, but notices blood on her hands where she breaks them. The branches move, twining around her as she screams.

Ichabod is touchy as Abbie talks about the holidays. He misses his wife.

Irving calls them in to discuss the case of Lena Gilbert, a rich socialite and philanthropist with family ties back to the Founding Fathers. She didn't show up for a fundraiser.

Why is this their business? Because someone faxed over a drawing Lena did, which includes Katrina's name. Her car GPS also shows them in Sleepy Hollow.

Ichabod has Abbie do a search for her on the Internet. They find her ancestors include a Fredericks. Ichabod says he knows where she went.

They go to visit the house where Lena was last, finding her car still outside. Ichabod says it barely looks like the residence he remembers. Katrina had wanted to visit, and the two finally went to meet Lachlan Fredericks, a friend of Washington's.

Flashback to the visit. Katrina is pleased that the black workers are free, not slaves. The house was a sanctuary for former slaves, who stayed on to work for a fare wage.

The house, now, however, is in ruin. They go inside. Abbie approaches someone sitting in a chair, but finds it is the bodyguard, dead. Abbie suspects an animal attack. Ichabod notes fresh blood on the floor that indicate a female was dragged. Abbie tries to request back-up but there is no signal. She goes to try outside, but the door slams shut on her. All around them, doors begin closing. They are trapped.

Ichabod says they need to start by finding Lena. Behind him, Abbie sees a woman in old-fashioned garb walk past. Abbie follows, nervous as they hear eerie whispering. Ichabod finds Katrina's favorite novel on the floor, and inside, a letter. One he wrote to her if his mission to confront the horseman failed and he died.

They wander the haunted house where they can, as crows fly around them. Ichabod explains that this used to be a house of hope. He wonders if perhaps it was also a sanctuary from evil. They find more bloody handprints and follow them up the stairs. They find her in the closet, in a prison of branches. Ichabod cuts them, and in the garden, outside, a bundle of briars wakes up and starts to move. Lena tells them to stop - the house is alive.

They free her, and she tells them the roots dragged her into the closet.

Jenny invites Irving to have Thanksgiving dinner with her and Abbie and Crane. She is interrupted by the arrival of his daughter, getting dropped off, and excuses herself.

Ichabod asks Lena about the name Katrina. Lena says Katrina is in the records as the last person who went to the house for sanctuary before it was abandoned. She says there's a legend Lachlan was involved in abolitionist as well as witchcraft. Ichabod wonders if perhaps Katrina was a part of his coven.

Something loud and big makes noise behind them, and they run. Ichabod breaks through a wall. He and Lena go through, but when he tries to pull Abbie in, he realizes he has hold of the strange tree monster. He and Lena run, but they are separated.

Meanwhile, Abbie is lost and frightened behind the walls. She busts through into another room. She turns and sees a black woman in old-fashioned garb. The woman tells her it's time and walks off, Abbie chasing.

Irving's daughter chases Jenny down and introduces herself as Macey. Irving's ex Cynthia takes him to task for not spending enough time with his daughter. She can't understand why he has been so busy. She tells him she will file for full custody if he cancels one more weekend.

The ghost appears to Abbie again and tells her it's coming, to hurry. She sees the room as it used to be - Katrina is in bed, giving birth. The servant is attending to her, helping her with her child. Outside the window, crows are cawing. The baby is born - a boy.

Ichabod finds Abbie. He tells her the creature took Lena. Abbie tells him what she saw. He tells her she is mistaken - she would have told him. Abbie says perhaps it had to be a secret. If Lachlan was a part of her coven, it would make sense that she came here for a safe birth.

She tells him there is more - Lachlan congratulates Katrina and tells her Ichabod would be thrilled. However, crows hit the window and break it. Lachlan sees the creature come up from the earth. It hid from the hex by growing inside of the safe zone, and came into being once the baby was born.

Lachlan orders Katrina and the baby into his carriage, and goes to check on the door. The creature shoves a branchy arm through Lachlan.

Ichabod demands to know what happened to his son, but Abbie tells him that's all she saw. They hear Lena scream and race off after her. They find her, grabbed by the creature. It takes off with her, and they chase by the roots, getting her back. They can't find how to escape, but Abbie sees the servant again, leading Katrina on a way out. They make it outside. Ichabod grabs an axe and goes in to finish the business.

He fights the creature, cutting its roots which are all over the house. He tells the creature to give Moloch his regards, and buries the axe in it.

Abbie tries to collect Ichabod from where he hides in the library, but he doesn't want to go to Thanksgiving. He misses his family and the life he had. He shows her a package from Lena - it's information on the house, and a family tree on Grace Dixon, the servant who saved Katrina and many others. Abbie realizes that Grace is her ancestor.

She and Ichabod toast to finding family.