Yo Ho Haunted

Antilles Pirate Museum showcases the ‘spirits’ of adventure

Pirate museum docent Darren Stock, Antilles Trading Company assistant manager Ashley Patrick and museum owner Jackie Hoover strike a pose with a comely buccaneer friend. TOM WILBY PHOTOS

Rotating exhibits highlight aspects of pirate culture. During Women’s History Month, for example, visitors will discover female pirates such as Anne Bonny and Mary Read.

The Antilles Trading Company Maritime Pirate Museum and Store is not your run-of-the-mill pirate museum. Not that there are many of these to begin with. Of the handful of museums dedicated to interpreting the lives of seafaring rogues, the majority are situated in more populated areas, not in small towns like Cocoa Village — and they’re not haunted. Antilles Trading Company, on the other hand, is the site of seances, ghost tours and paranormal, as well as “parrot-normal,” occurrences. 

Former deputy sheriff and current defense contractor of antennas and RF systems Jackie Hoover is the owner, curator and historian of Antilles Trading. Her back story also includes extensive sailing through Pirate Central, aka the Caribbean, where she immediately fell in love with the lifestyle and the trove of pirate artifacts she discovered. 

“You never wore shoes; you hopped around all these beautiful islands; and you did what you wanted,” Hoover said. “Who wouldn’t love that?”