chunk: Crane begins his investigation, remaining skeptical about the supernatural 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 sorceress. She reveals the location of the Tree of the Dead, which marks the Horseman's grave, as well as his portal into the natural world.
  Crane discovers that the ground is freshly disturbed and the Horseman's skeleton has the skull missing. He realizes that whoever dug up and stole the skull is the person controlling the Horseman. The Killian family are taken by the Horseman and Katrina's suitor Brom van Brunt (Casper Van Dien) is killed trying to stop the Horseman.