MovieChat Forums > The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1980) Discussion > Why did everyone consider Ichabod a loon...

Why did everyone consider Ichabod a loon when they believed in ghosts?

posted 15 years ago by StrongRex
4 replies | jump to latest

That made absolutely no sense to me. Sleepy Hollow was known for being a very superstitious town and being proud of their beliefs in ghosts and stories. First this Vanderhoof guy is scolding him at the beginning for not taking the spirit world seriously and burning a garlic bag, but then when Ichabod starts seeing ghosts, he and the townspeople think he's crazy. Especially when it came to this Palmer guy who was the school teacher before Ichabod.

They had an attitude that said, "Palmer is dead, Ichabod!" Um, yeah so isn't that his ghost? I thought you all believed in ghosts yourselves. Hmm, I guess either the people are hypocrites and like to contradict themselves or Ichabod moved to another town with the same name that wasn't as superstitious. Either way, why didn't this movie explain it?

[–] Rude_God 14 years ago

This is a good point. My best guess is that they didn't really believe in ghosts, but rather liked to pretend that they did, indulging in a little fantasy to make their otherwise sleepy town that much more mysterious and intriguing. As a result they would not take too kindly to someone openly pouring scorn on the idea of ghosts. On the other hand, actually seeing on repeated occasions a person known to be dead would appear to them be madness (of course Palmer was not actually dead).

[–] novastar_6 14 years ago

They believed in The Headless Horseman...and, maybe they also believed about the Indian ghosts. I don't know, maybe for some reason or other, they thought Palmer couldn't come back.

[–] LaPfieffer92 11 years ago

from what i could tell, it was mainly fritz that was superstitious. they said that the town was like that but only fritz seemed to truly believe in ghosts. fritz seemed to believe that palmer was a ghost while ichabod was saying he didnt really die that he was crazy, but fritz didnt believe that notion.

[–] greenbudgie (2355) a year ago

From what I can gather, the villagers believed the ghosts can never bother them while they install their devil bags at the appropriate places. Especially Fritz and his daughter who organize the devil bag ceremonies.