'Sleepy Hollow' recap: 'Sanctuary'

Sleepy Hollow's three easy ways to tell if your house is haunted: 1) Is it covered in dead vines? 2) Is it populated with aggressive ravens? 3) Did it at one time belong to a distant relative, but is currently unoccupied and unclaimed for reasons unknown? If you've answered yes to any of these questions, your house is probably haunted. And if you don't have the 'Ghostbusters' on speed dial, Abbie and Ichabod might be the next best bet. Just don't call Ichabod. His technological struggles continue.

This week's episode opens with a woman being driven up to a dilapidated estate. But this is no recession-era abandoned McMansion. This place has got history. The woman says to her bodyguard, who is unimpressed by the overgrown edifice: 'It's history, Sam. My family's history to be exact.' Leena, the woman, has come to reclaim and restore a part of her past. Bustling about the house, she opens a closet and finds it full of vines - vines that attack and trap her.

We cut to the police office with Abbie and Ichabod, who's just had his first McDonald's encounter. It goes about as well as you'd expect. Thanksgiving is approaching, and conversation quickly switches to the traditions. Ichabod can't stand the holiday talk, though. It makes him miss Katrina. It seems that he might have touched a nerve with Abbie. Does he not value my company, she might be thinking. 'I mean no disrespect,' Ichabod says. 'Your company holds the greatest value to me.' None taken, says Abbie. 'Besides, what are holidays for if not for airing our grievances.' A little Seinfeld reference. Nice.

Captain Irving has some new weirdness fresh of the scanner. A socialite has disappeared, Irving explains. Lena Gilbert has vanished, and the senate majority leader is concerned about this well-connected woman's well-being. Abbie and Ichabod are disinterested until Irving reveals that Lena had a document with Ichabod's wife's name on it. Coincidence, Abbie wonders. 'When the two of us are involved, rarely is a coincidence a coincidence.' A quick 'inanet' search reveals that Lena is the descendant of Lachlan Fredericks, a member of the Continental Congress, and a war supporter. Ichabod immediately knows where Lena is.

Abbie and Ichabod arrive at the estate. Ichabod realizes he had gone there with Katrina, several hundred years prior, though it 'hardly resembles the residence Katrina and I visited during the war.' Lachlan's estate, he says, was a sanctuary. It was a safe haven for the oppressed. But Lachlan, he suspects, fought for other causes outside of liberty. And since this is 'Sleepy Hollow,' let's face it, those causes are going to be supernatural.

Inside, the dynamic duo is quick to discover that Lena's bodyguard appears to have been pecked to death, most likely by one of the overly aggressive crows that patrol the premises. They begin to search for Lena, but this house on haunted hill isn't having it. Doors slam shut. The shortwave stops working. Cell service cuts out. 'This is not happening,' says Abbie. 'Not to be an alarmist ...' 'But we're in a damn haunted house.'

With the show's 'Snakes on a Plane' moment behind it, the search for Lena continues. Abbie sees a ghost moving through the the rooms. In their search, Ichabod finds a copy of 'Gulliver's Travels,' Katrina's favorite book. And the resemblance to her copy is uncanny. Leafing through it, Ichabod finds a letter he wrote to her the morning he faced the horseman. It is her copy afterall. 'It's as though I were meant to find it,' he says.

Their search continues. 'At the height of the war,' Ichabod says, 'this was a place of hope and a force for good. ... It's possible their house was a refuge from supernatural threats.' Though now, Ichabod says, it seems an evil force has 'turned it from a sanctuary to a prison.' They manage to locate Lena, but she's in a bad way: trapped inside the vine-packed, iron-maiden-like closet. Ichabod begins to cut her free, but the vines bleed, and outside, a leafy, tree monster springs to life. 'You don't understand,' Lena says, free of the vines. 'This house is alive.'

Back at the station, Capt. Irving is agitated that he can't reach Ichabod and Abbie. Jenny is there to return some of the guns she stole from Irving. Irving seems only slightly concerned that Jenny, fresh from the institution, was able to obtain firearms. But let's face it. He's got bigger things to worry about at this point. The two begin to discuss Thanksgiving plans. Jenny would like to have a little get together with her sister, and gee, wouldn't it be nice if you could come Capt. Irving? 'We act like normal people for a change,' Irving says. He seems intrigued.

But just before they can have the should I bring red or white discussion, Irving's wife and daughter show up. Irving offers up the you're not interrupting, she's just a friend, defense. But the wife doesn't seem to be buying it. And neither is the daughter.

There's no time for love now, though. What we need is some more exposition. Lena the socialite explains: 'This place has always been a family mystery.' Asking about why Lena had the Katrina note, Lena explains that Katrina appears to be the last person to have visited the sanctuary. Knowing Katrina's involvement, Ichabod speculates that Lachlan must have been a member of her coven. But we've run out of time for exposition because the house is attacking. Now's the time for some 'Blair Witch Project'-esque camera work. I'm so scared right now.

The dynamic duo and the socialite manage to get inside the walls, fleeing whatever pursues them. At some point, Abbie is separated from the gang. And Ichabod loses Lena, presumably to the not so jolly green tree monster. The ghostly woman Abbie saw earlier appears once more and tells her, 'It's time.'

Time for more family drama. Back at the station, Capt. Irving's daughter, Macy, and Jenny meet. It's about as awkward as you might expect. So you're dad's new girlfriend, Macy says. It's not like that, Jenny offers (yet). Your dad is cool, but a little straight laced for my taste. Yeah, Macy says, he can be a little hard headed. But really, Jenny says, you should give him a chance. He's not all that bad. Through their half-hearted attempt at a heart-to-heart, we learn that Capt. Irving and his wife are separated. The move to Sleepy Hollow was supposed to help their relationship - calmer department, better hours, more family time. Things have been anything but calm, but Irving, to his credit, realizes that now isn't the time to get into the whole undead headless guy on horseback thing. His wife warns him: One more missed weekend, and we're divorcing. Point taken, Mrs. Irving. But we all know how this cop drama plot point is going to turn out.

Back in the haunted manor, Abbie's new ghost friend is still talking to her. 'It's coming. Hurry,' says the ghost. Abbie finds herself at Katrina's bedside. Katrina gives birth to a son. Lachlan is there, watching over, but an angry crow keeps smashing itself against the glass. It's clear that some otherworldly force is not pleased with Katrina bringing a child into the world.

Reuniting with Ichabod, she tells him of the vision she had. Ichabod is stunned. He didn't even know Katrina was with child. She must have been telling him she was on the pill. Abbie reasons that Katrina must have believed that the hex on the property would keep her and the child safe. Abbie says that in the vision, Lachlan knew that the hex had been broken and something had come for the baby. It beat the hex by growing inside the property, and it had to have been sent by Moloch, Abbie reasons. 'That creature, the evil in this house, must have attacked the moment the child was born.' The tree demon, Abbie reveals, killed Lachlan.

Ichabod asks what happened to his son, but Abbie doesn't know. And there's no time for an explanation with blood-curdling screams coming from the basement. There, they find a very freaked out Lena, and evil Treebeard. Ichabod implores Abbie to shoot the roots that have taken over the basement. This weakens evil Treebeard who loosens his grasp on Lena. They turn to run, but in the darkness, they're not sure where to go. But Abbie sees the ghost again, and catches a glimpse of Katrina, both showing her the way out. She calls to Ichabod and Lena, and leads the way to safety.

But Ichabod has some unfinished business with evil Treebeard. He fetches an axe from the trunk of the car, and trudges back to the basement. Illuminating the darkness with road flares, he begins to hack at the roots, drawing the demon closer.

'I know who you serve,' he says. 'I know why you came here. You think you could attack those I love without consequence? That you could come for my wife! My child!' Turning to face the demon, he buries the axe into its head. 'Give Moloch my regards.'

Back at the dynamic duo's Batcave, Ichabod is a bit sullen. Abbie tries to coax him into attending Thanksgiving with his favorite adult beverage, rum. 'I believe I would not have survived Valley Forge without it.' A package has arrived for Abbie from Lena. It contains the history of the manor. Its contents reveal that the ghost Abbie saw was Grace Dixon, the house matron. And a family tree shows that Abbie is a direct descendant of Dixon.

'My ancestor brought your son into this world,' Abbie says. 'It seems that you and I,' Ichabod says, 'our paths were entwined from the very start.'

And they drink to family, both present and newly discovered.