'Sleepy Hollow' Season 3, Episode 1: 'I, Witness' Recap

The Headless Horseman races through the woods when a mysterious woman appears before him. She sings a song, and Abraham and his horse vaporize and seem to be captured in an ornate box. Within the box, she calls forth a vaporous demon.

Abbie is doing well in her new station, and working her way up as a special agent for the FBI now that she is out of small-town law enforcement. She gets a call... Ichabod needs her help. He's stuck in immigration and customs. Abbie isn't happy to see him... he's been missing for nine months, having gone to "clear his head" and disappearing.

Ichabod apologizes. He pulls out Katrina's necklace, which he says is spiritually linked to Abraham. The night before the necklace burned him and cracked - all the energy is drained. He believes something dire has happened to Abraham. He admits he was caught trying to smuggle a priceless artifact.

In a cabin in the woods, a monster kills two men.

Abbie springs Ichabod and he tells her about his wandering. He went to his ancestoral home in Scotland, where, in his family crypt, he found a tablet beneath his own name in the vaults. That is what customs "nailed" him for. Before they took it for him he noted it was Sumerian, roughly 4,000 years old, and entitled "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."

He thinks maybe it holds the key to their mission as witnesses. Abbie reminds him that mission is over. She has a new mission now, as an FBI agent. She gets a call - two dead bodies, working theory an animal attack. They go to the scene, though Abbie knows there are no major predators in the area. She notes a red residue on a post.

Outside Ichabod notes a footprint, and uses "dragon's breath" which is supposed to identify demonic activity. It does.

Abbie brings Ichabod to her office, where he notes her drug mission "Anaconda." She introduces him to Special Agent in Charge Mitch Granger. Ichabod and Abbie argue over the hunters. Ichabod thinks it is tied into his tablet, but Abbie thinks he is searching for purpose. She agrees it was probably some kind of stray monster, but one who didn't get the memo that the war is over.

The forensic scientist Dani (obviously infatuated with Ichabod) tells Abbie that the hunters had major hormone activity prior to death indicating terror. Abbie takes Ichabod back to the archives, which have been otherwise closed down since he left. The building has been sold and is scheduled for demolishment.

Jenny shows up to greet Ichabod, and tells his Irving left in the middle of the night and no one knows where he has gone. Ichabod begins to look through his books for information on a demon that can manipulate fear.

The mysterious woman talks of fear and waters a tree, eager for more.

Abbie gets an email - the red substance is "cinnabar." Something demons are known to contain. Particularly demons called Yao-Guai, battlefield demons known to paralyze with fear. They are not masters, but serve. Abbie notes "there is a new player in town."

Ichabod pulls out Franklin's sketchbook, which talks about a "red devil" at Bunker Hill (something Ichabod had always interpreted as a Redcoat). The battle was turned in their favor when a message was transmitted... no doubt the key to defeating these demons. The message had been delivered by one special operative.... Betsy Ross. She and Ichabod were often partners in crime... and maybe sometimes a little more.

Jenny does some quick research and finds that message has ended up in Colonial Times... a colonial-themed park in the area. Abbie pops open a display case at a restaurant and steals what they need while Ichabod mourns the loss of the honor of his bretheren. There's a code within the leather pouch, which Ichabod works to figure out. Abbie offers to drop him at the archives - she has some work to do with Anaconda.

During research, Jenny points out to Ichabod that the potential violence between Anaconda and the FBI is the perfect situation to attract the Yao-Guai. During Abbie's attack, the Yao-Guai appears and attacks and kills Granger. Abbie fires at it and wounds it.

Later she goes over the attack with Icahbod, who marvels she wounded it. She said she shot when its eyes turned white, like a sharks. It seems to explain "don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes." Abbie gets a call - Chang of Anaconda has hostages and is asking for her.

She goes, and talks about the "monster" with Chang, who is crazed and thrown. She gets the hostages out. He shoots at her. She manages to subdue Chang, as Ichabod and Jenny try to attack the demon. It doesn't work, but Abbie manages to come in and catch the thing before it can get Ichabod.

Abbie gets Ichabod's tablet back from Custom's, and notices it seems two pieces stuck together. The second piece has a picture... which looks oddly like the two of them. The word underneath translates roughly to "Destroyers."

At the bar, Ichabod and Abbie celebrate their small victory, and Abbie brushes shoulders briefly with the mysterious woman, named Pandora.