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Reverend Steenwyck is a major antagonist in the 1999 horror film Sleepy Hollow, an adaptation of the late Washington Irving's 1820 gothic story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

He was the town reverend of Sleepy Hollow who was secretly aligned with Lady Van Tassel, the master of the Headless Horseman, in her plot to gain the Van Garrett fortune.

He was portrayed by Jeffrey Jones, who also played Dick Richardson in Fallout 2, Ed Rooney in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Joseph Potter in Dr. Dolittle 2.

Biography[]

Following the deaths of Sir Peter Van Garrett and his son Dirk, Baltus Van Tassel and the town elders (consisting of Reverend Steenwyck, Dr. Thomas Lancaster, Notary James Hardenbrook, and Magistrate Samuel Phillipse) called in New York inspector Ichabod Crane to investigate the murders. They told him of the story of the Headless Horseman, believing that he has been risen from the grave and have been chopping off heads at random (including the Van Garretts).

At first, Ichabord finds the elders' story to be ridiculous (due to his skepticism), but realizes that they were right after witnessing Magistrate Phillipse being murdered by the Headless Hessian himself. As the story goes on, Ichabod soon learns that a widow named Emily Winship (one of the Horseman's victims) was pregnant and married Peter to inherit the fortune to her unborn child. He also learned that the four town elders were involved in covering the secret from the town as Reverend Steenwyck performed the marriage ceremony for Peter and Emily, believing that Baltus stole the skull from the Horseman's grave and controlled him to committed the murders to inherit the fortune for his family.

However, this wasn't the case, as it turns out that Lady Van Tassel is the one behind the murders as she held a grudge against the Van Garrett family for her family's eviction when she was a child. It also turns that the town elders were held under her thumb to formulate the murder plot, but unlike Lancaster, Phillipse and Hardenbrook (who were respectively blackmailed and terrorized into conspiring against Baltus), Steenwyck willingly played along due to his lust for Lady Van Tassel; he even had sex with her in the woods one night (which was witnessed by Ichabod himself).

Eventually, following Hardenbrook's suicide, Steenwyck calls for a meeting in the church for everyone to speak out against Ichabod, but the Horseman arrives one night to kill Baltus at the church. Knowing that Baltus is the one that the Horseman wants, Steenwyck intends to turn him over to the Horseman to save himself, unaware that the Horseman cannot enter the church (both due to it being on holy ground and a protection spell cast by Baltus' daughter Katrina). As Baltus grabs Ichabod's gun to defend himself, Dr. Lancaster decides to confess his sins to Baltus by attempting to inform him about the conspiracy that Lady Van Tassel plotted. However, Steenwyck kills Lancaster by smashing his head with a wooden cross, but this frightens Baltus into shooting Steenwyck in the chest, killing him instantly. Horrified by what has happened, Baltus ends up being impaled in the chest and decapitated by the Horseman, much to Katrina's horror and distress.

It can be implied that Steenwyck is sentenced to be condemned in Hell for his notorious sins.

Navigation[]

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Book
Headless Horseman

Movies
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad: Headless Horseman | Brom Bones
Sleepy Hollow (1999): Lady Van Tassel | Headless Horseman | Reverend Steenwyck
The Haunted Pumpkin of Sleepy Hollow (2003): Headless Horseman
Headless Horseman (2007): Headless Horseman | Satan

Television
Main
Moloch | Henry Parrish | Hidden One | Malcolm Dreyfuss

Moloch's Servants & Horsemen
Ancitif | Andy Brooks | Demons | Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse | Conquest | Headless Horseman | Famine | Hessians (Gunthur) | War | Headless Horseman's Head | Gina Lambert | Lilith the Succubus | Order of the Blood Moon | Pied Piper | Serilda of Abaddon | Tree Monster

British Army
Abraham von Brunt | Banastre Tarleton | Benedict Arnold | William Howe

Hidden One's Servants
Pandora | Kindred

Dreyfuss Enterprises
Abraham von Brunt | Logan MacDonald | Helen Donovan | Jobe

Others
Atticus Nevins | Carmilla Pines | The Devil | Evil Frank Irving | Golem | James Colby | Katrina Crane | Leena Reyes | Mary Wells | Orion | Ro'kenhronteys | Solomon Kent | The Four Who Speak As One

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