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?”

Eventually, the collection morphed into a museum with more than 400 pirate-related curiosities spanning the 17th to 19th centuries. There’s a penny inkwell from Henry Morgan’s estate, 17th century cannonballs, historical paintings and weapons, ship figureheads, and a gallows rope from Gallows Point and Execution Dock in Jamaica, to name a smattering. A large segment of the collection has a dark side.

“There’s a lot of stuff that killed people,” Hoover said, in a perfect synopsis.

The museum also includes general maritime memorabilia, such as a sea desk from Commodore John Manley who plundered British warships during the Revolutionary War, with the blessings of Gen. George Washington. 

The museum partners with the nonprofit Maritime and Pirate Preservation Foundation to preserve authentic maritime and pirate history, and share it with the public through research, exhibits and educational programs. 

Antilles Trading Company Pirate Museum in Cocoa Village showcases more than 400 pirate-related curiosities spanning from the 17th to 19th century.

DIVERSE 

Davey Jones’ “heart,” which beats with a little assist from technology, is a guest favorite.

Rotating exhibits look at the many different aspects of pirate culture. During Women’s History Month, for example, visitors will discover female pirates such as Anne Bonny and Mary Read. Discrepancy of the earnings between the sexes was apparent even in pirate times: Gal pirates usually didn’t amass as much treasure as the guys. 

During Hispanic History Month, the museum will showcase the history of Spanish and Latin American pirates. Come Native American Month in November, the shift is to pirates from tribes such as the Seminoles. In December and January, Vikings are the pirates of choice. 

Just for the sheer fun of it, Hoover’s husband and tech wiz, John, added animatronic exhibits that include a talking parrot, a lighted and bleeding heart allegedly belonging to Davy Jones and more. 

Visitors engage with a computerized tour, interactive exhibits and animatronics set within a pirate ship environment, including a scavenger hunt for pirate booty. At the end, they are delivered to the gift store, where they can outfit themselves as stylish pirates. The store is popular with local members of pirate brethren, as a pirate-loving cosplay group is called. The name is a nod to the Brethren of the Coast, a group of 17th century Caribbean privateers. [Fun fact: The fictional counterpart of the historical brethren is the Brethren Court from Pirates of the Caribbean movies.] The store stocks everything from basic pirate outfits to stylish regalia that includes items such as $200 hand-tooled baldrics to carry your cutlass. It appears that pirates, particularly of French origin, were fashion freaks — or at least re-enactors who want to dress the part think so.

“You don’t all want to look the same,” Hoover said.

The museum is the starting point for Past and Presence ghost tours. The exterior may look normal enough, but the interior is allegedly well haunted by spirits.

Often mounted on pirate ships, a blunderbuss rail gun, loaded with projectiles like grapeshot, had a devastating effect on boarding parties.

Patrick is ready to outfit customers with the finest in pirate regalia, including a hand-tooled leather baldric to hold a cutlass.

HAUNTED

Perhaps because of the provenance of the artifacts, or because the museum was a magic shop at one time, or because a funeral home was once across the street, Antilles Trading Pirate Museum is supposedly very, very haunted. The Florida Bureau of Paranormal Investigation has performed two “ghost surveys” and found enough ethereal activity to “verify” it as a house with ghosts.

“Weird things happen here: doors open by themselves; lights turn on; things get shucked off shelves,” Hoover said. “When we open in the morning, staff often has to spend time straightening what has been moved.” 

Illusionist John Ferrintino, who holds theatrical seances at the museum, has been spooked by the spooks on several occasions. 

“There are spirits in that place,” he said, noting that while preparing for a show, a three-pound brass bell came flying off the table.

While Ferrintino focuses on illusions during his Under the Black Flag of the Dead seance, sometimes he gets an assist from the netherworld. 

“Some stuff happens during shows that you can’t explain,” he said. “There is a weird energy there.”

The museum is the starting point for the Past and Presence Ghost Tours orchestrated by Zach Bowden, who notes that one of the resident spirits has a knack for mimicking voices.

“That’s wonderfully creepy,” he said.

The spirit could well be an example of parrot-normal, since parrots — preferred pets of pirates — often mimic human speech.

An artifact Hoover would love to add to the collection would surely increase the number of ghouls afoot. Although Hoover insists she loves every item in her collection equally, there is one item that would be at the top of her affections, were she lucky enough to find it. It’s the skull of Blackbeard, repurposed as a punch bowl. After 20+ stabbings and five bullets finally delivered legendary pirate Blackbeard to his just rewards, his head was severed and displayed on the bowsprit of the ship that captured him as proof of his death — a common practice to claim a bounty. After the flesh disappeared, a crafty tavern keeper supposedly fashioned a punch bowl out of his skull.

“Somewhere in this world is that punch bowl, and I would like to get that,” Hoover said. “That is the ultimate pirate artifact.”

Pirates come in all shapes, sizes and cultures, including the Seminole tribe.

Antilles Trading Company Pirate Museum

Open noon to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays. Admission is $8.

641 Brevard Ave., Cocoa Village

321-313-5886 | Antillestradingcompany.com

Past and Presence Ghost Tours

Ghost tours of Titusville and Cocoa Village; Cocoa Village tours begin at Antilles Trading Company 

Pastandpresencetours.com

Under the Black Flag of the Dead

Contact Antilles Trading for upcoming theatrical seances. Seances “unleash” the spirits of privateers, buccaneers and other swashbucklers in chilling tales from beyond the grave. Admission to the Pirate Museum is included. Waverlyseance.com

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