Podcast: Play in new window | Download () | Embed
[sc:wptop]Hello, SleepyHeads! This week on Witness Prophecies, we discuss Sleepy Hollow Season 3 Episode 13, entitled “Dark Mirror” which originally aired on March 4, 2016. As with a mirror, we saw two sides of several characters or their stories this week, reflecting both the light and the dark aspects of Sleepy Hollow’s world and representing good vs. evil.
This week we saw more backstory about The Hidden One (played to narcissistic perfection by Peter Mensah) and how he used Pandora (the brilliant Shannyn Sossamon) to overthrow his “god-brother” and temporarily rule the world. The Hidden One was sent by his brother to the catacombs with all the evils of the world in a classic “light” vs. “dark” struggle. Pandora’s box was actually the prison for the world’s evils, and was to be guarded by The Hidden One, but he conned Pandora into releasing its contents to destroy his brother. Consider the power that Pandora must have felt as she held all that evil, and how she, as a lowly slave, must have suddenly felt that she had some control over her destiny. It was probably intoxicating for this young maiden for whom one wrong move in front of the powerful god could have meant instant death. Interestingly, we learn that “humanity” banished The Hidden One and his darkness at some point after he assumed his brother’s position. Could the ancestors of our current day witnesses overthrown him, tossing him back into the catacombs until Pandora released him to wage war against Sleepy Hollow and the world?
A second contrast of light vs. dark power was in this week’s “monster,” The Jersey Devil. Dr. Japeth Leeds (played with evil boisterousness by Charles Aitken) was a rival scientist of Benjamin Franklin, who was an outcast because he experimented with genetic mutation, and ultimately turned himself into The Jersey Devil. A highly talented man, he invented a lightning rod that he claimed was better than Franklin’s and an early movie projector, however his experiments were used for evil rather than for good. We don’t know how he learned of The Hidden One, and why he made this “god” his master, but he was another power hungry man who thought so highly of himself, that he failed to see his mistakes until Abbie was able to pierce him with his own lightning rod invention. He exploded with a lightning strike and was gone. He was successful in re-creating The Golden Hourglass for his master, filling it with The Sands of Time. This apparently will take our heroes down a dark path to save the world from destruction by The Hidden One.
Our final view of the struggle between good and evil, light and dark, was with our own Abbie Mills. Abbie’s obsession with the rune symbol had grown to such dangerous proportions that she almost allowed her partner, Ichabod Crane, to die in Leed’s laboratory.
Both Crane and Abbie’s sister, Jenny, knew that Abbie was not herself, but they would be there to support her and not press her, and it almost cost Crane his life. 
Abbie has admitted to Crane that she needed this symbol, and that it saved her mentally while she was imprisoned in the catacombs, but at what cost? We know she has “pledged” herself to some unknown entity, and while Abbie poignantly told Crane she needed help, she didn’t tell him how deep her obsession actually is. Will the rune symbol hold power of light or of darkness?
History Lesson of the Week – The Legend of the Jersey Devil
The Jersey Devil is a legendary creature that is said to inhabit the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey, in the United States. There have been numerous descriptions of the creature, but the most common is of a kangaroo-like creature, with the head of a goat, bat-like wings, clawed hands and hooves, and having a forked tail. It can supposedly move very quickly and has a “blood-curdling” scream.
One origin story is that a woman had 12 children and was giving birth to her 13th in 1735, and said this would be the child of the devil. Her name was Mother Leeds and she was supposedly a witch. It was born as either a real child and changed into a devil or was deformed, but it was exorcised in 1740 by a clergyman and not seen again for over 100 years.
The woman was identified as Deborah Leeds, as her husband, Japhet Leeds named 12 children in his 1736 will, and they lived in the Leeds Point section of Atlantic County, New Jersey, near the Jersey Devil story location. Stories about the creature didn’t appear in print until about 1909. It has been speculated that there was “colonial-era political intrigue” in the late 1600’s/early 1700’s regarding a Daniel Leeds who was a politician and who published a rival almanac, and that this story was created to discredit the family.
Interestingly, several prominent individuals in history have claimed to have seen the beast, including Commodore Stephen Decatur (of US Naval fame) and Joseph Bonaparte, the older brother of Napoleon.
The creature has been so popular, that a hockey team was named after them.
Link to Wikipedia, The Jersey Devil
YouTube video of The Jersey Devil, “Weird or What, with William Shatner” on the Syfy channel
March 11, 2016 – Season 3 Episode 14 – “Into the Wild”
And SleepyHeads – don’t forget about the book, Sleepy Hollow – Creating Heroes, Demons & Monsters, by Tara Bennett and Paul Terry. You can order it on Amazon, by using the Golden Spiral Media link.
Feedback
Look into your crystal balls, and let us know your future “prophecies” of events that may occur in Sleepy Hollow by sending us your feedback, SleepyHeads! Our deadline is 4pm Eastern, on Saturday! Use our Feedback page to type an email, record a voicemail, or upload an audio file, or call 304-837-2278. We’d love to hear from you! And while you’re at it, why not take a few minutes to leave a rating and review in iTunes?
[sc:wp]