New England Pirate Museum

Pretty standard fare for Salem museums: wax figures, overly spooky tour guide copy, etc. The reason for the single star is the absolute disregard for history. I’m an absolute nut when it comes to pirates. There’s a room where they have Jolly Rogers on the wall. Not only do all of them have red coloration where they historically did not, but they are attributed to the wrong pirates, as a quick Google search will provide. When I addressed the mislabeling with the tour guide, he brushed it off in favor of making more lame puns. The «facts» they spew here are the usual line of misinformation and fantasy popularized in stories. You’ll find more history at Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean ride — and at least you get a fun boat ride out of that. I guess it’s fine if you’re not actually interested in learning about pirate history or have never read a book or seen a movie about pirates. Skip this, go to Cape Cod instead, and go to the Whydah Museum.

My parents and sister came to town to visit and we decided to take a trip to Salem and be tourists. Being Coast Guard we have an interest in all things nautical including pirates. We ended our day here and were very unsatisfied at the end of the tour.
To begin, when we asked if they did a military discount the guy at the register was short and crude saying no, only some other offer with other places in the area but bc it was so late in day it couldn’t be used or bought, I don’t remember the specifics on that bc we weren’t going that route. So if you work with people you should be friendly, he was the complete opposite. I couldn’t bring my stroller in with me, that was a drag but understandable.
The tour guide was enthusiastic and had interesting things to say but I could tell he was new. At the end I felt like I would have learned more and gotten my money’s worth by watching a history channel or some learning channel documentary. I say don’t waste your time and spend your money somewhere else.

My tour guide had the looks of Cary Elwes in Princess Bride, and the voice and story telling abilities of Hank Green. This was the best attraction we saw. We loved this guy.

What a joke-​it was smelly & disgusting and I felt like I needed to shower by the time it was over. Don’t waste your time here.

One star, not because the cheesy mannequins are dusty and difficult to see through the darkness, but because we called ahead of time to ask if the museum was appropriate for a five-​year old. «Oh, yes!,» a reassuring voice told us, «kids of all ages go through it with no problem at all!» Well, we all know kids are individuals and some get frightened more easily than others. But we feel strongly that we should have been warned about the graphic decapitation diorama (a sea captain holds a decapitated, bleeding pirate’s head triumphantly in the air) because, believe it or not, Pirate Museum, some five-​year olds might find that scary. in the end, it was not that scene, but the last exhibit, the so-​called «pirate caves,» which featured a heap of mangled, decaying pirate corpses, that made a six-​year old girl in our tour group burst into tears and beg her mama to take her out. This set-​off a chain reaction, freaking out a couple of other kids and the stampede for the exit was on. As for our five-​year old, the good news is, he was not scared. The bad news: He was bored and disappointed.

I wanted to give this place some love. My family and I live in Salem so our kids have been asking us to go here for a long time. My son, who is 5, wanted to go but has Autism Spectrum disorder and we are always careful where we bring him because he is scared of darkness and noises. We took the chance and bought the tickets for all of us and in the first room he became scared (it really isn’t very dark at all in the first room, but he didn’t like it). So my wife stayed with our other two kids and I took him back out to the lobby. I didn’t ask for a refund because we knew the risk, we knew it might not work. So I took him for a walk while my wife finished the tour.
When she came back out after the tour she said that they refunded us the money for my son and I. I thought that was very nice. We went back in and bought him a spyglass. Very unexpected but appreciated with a son with special needs.
My wife said it was a great presentation and she learned a lot! Maybe hoaky for older kids but I’m sure during Halloween they make it a little scarier.

Not great but not bad. The tour guide was funny and enthusiastic. Could have been a bit longer and there could have been more on display but all in all a pretty decent experience.

This place is what you’d expect for Salem «museums».
It’s cute, small, and kitschy. Fun stuff for a Sunday afternoon, but yes, but more old school wax museum than anything else! It would have been great if it was sold as a self led tour; the hungover frat boy who lead the tour just wasn’t into it (and could I blame him? Halloween season in Salem must be a drag). That said, I’d rather have not felt rushed out and have had the time to make my way through the exhibits.
If you have mold allergies, beware!

I’ve lived in Salem ten years and visit the Pirate Museum every year at least once. While it does follow the formula of diorama-​like scenes populated by mannequins (and some of them are quite threadbare) it tells a fascinating story of seafaring and piracy, narrated in the most outstanding style by any one of the Pirate Museums awesome guides. Thees folk really know their stuff: beyond just telling the story behind the imagery, they can also answer your questions, often with great wit, always in character. I love how dark and musty it is (I can’t believe people would complain about that), which seems to add to the atmosphere greatly.
My only caveat is that it may be a little gory or scary for very young or sensitive children. Other than that, I always tell people, «skip the Witch Museum, go to the PIRATE MUSEUM!»

This is basically a short wax type of tour. NO MUSEUM BY ANY MEANS.
Its so dark inside you can barely see the wax people. It smelled musty also.
I am only giving 3 stars because the tour guide was very friendly and answered all our questions fully.
Cheesy little trap for tourists, but we were bored for the day, so it was what it was.

Pretty simple museum tour. Pretty dark inside so hard to see. A couple scenes or hangings and decapitation the are a little gory for kids.

A fun 20 minute guided tour through some of the interesting pirate stories of the Salem area. Though the exhibits are mostly comprised of 30+ year old mannequins in hilarious positions. If you are looking for a fun little tour this may be the place, if you are looking for source materials for your PHD. dissertation about New England pirates, maybe look somewhere else.

I visited the New England Pirate Museum because my family and I were in Salem a few days before Halloween 2011, and my son literally dragged me off the street and towards the actors in costume out on the sidewalk and the diorama of a pirate attack on a village that was in the front window. We spent a lot of time in the water when we visited Salem – including taking the ferry over from Boston and signing up for the Mahi Mahi «haunted harbor cruise” – so it made sense in a weird way to follow up with pirates. Salem’s such a wild place right before Halloween, even down to a lot of visitors being in costume already and an actual set of fairground rides being down on Derby Street, that this was just more pleasant craziness for us tourists to jump in on and spend more money. I did enjoy the Pirate Museum, because it was like a 1970s wax museum combined with some performance art.
Basically, when you visit, you get paraded by a series of tableaus with wax figures and occasional sound effects that show the history of piracy, from Dixie Bull onward through Edward Teach (aka «Blackbeard») and others. The guides are all in pirate garb and pleasantly hammy and entertaining. The largest display shows an infamous tavern that was a trap for pirates as well as a nearby gallows, complete with an Anglican priest giving last rites to the condemned. The tableaus seem to be older but well maintained and really brought back a sense of nostalgia to me from similar things I recall from my youth back in the 1970s (and those wax museums were likely from the 1960s, at least). Rob Zombie (horror icon) was in town filming a movie while we were there, and I could see him slipping in to this place in disguise and chuckling a bit at the wonderful silliness of it all. My son didn’t care for the last exhibit, which featured a severed head as part of a pirate mutiny, but he’s very young, and I think most kids wouldn’t be bothered. Overall, though, he loved the place, and we wound up buying him a pirate captain’s hat, and he spent the rest of the afternoon trying to imitate pirate talk («Arrr!»).
The very end of the museum, although with exhibits, more resembles an honest-​to-​gosh carnival haunted house full of tunnels and things like pirate ghosts that POP up at you, but it’s not too scary. I had a big smile on my face as we left: it was so cheesy but it took me back many years and my son had a great time. It’s just a bit educational, mostly entertainment and a sort of fun, innocent, low-​tech experience that you don’t see much these days.

We enjoyed this. Looking at the pirate stuff was pretty cool. We were left all alone to take our time, we could have stayed in there all day, it’s not a «tour». We took a few nice pics of each other with the wax men in the background. It was like $ 8/​person. No complaints.

When you’re tired of hearing about the witch trials, you can take a visit to the New England Pirate Museum. When you pay your $ 8.00, you get a guided tour through the various and colourful individuals that made up the history of piracy in New England.
The display features a pirate ship, mannequins of the varioius characters and a cave which leads you through more of the history.
While not exactly a ‘museum’ in the strictest sense, it is not a bad place to visit.

This place was incredibly fun. Yes, it pertains more to the maritime history of Salem rather than the Witches, but it is definitely one of the best attractions I’ve been to in Salem. At first you think, «how interesting is this REALLY going to be?» But it was a good deal of fun! You start with a tour guide at the front of the museum and he is of course a «pirate» and my tour guide was so animated and funny, he was pretty awesome.
Now, we walked through the museum, which is set up as a recreation of what Salem would have looked like and such, and your pirate guide gives you a historical perspective on all things Pirate, which is really interesting and they love getting the kids involved. It was fun and the people working there really add to the place. Should definitely check it out.

This place is not a museum. It’s more like a theatrical company that puts on a fun, interesting show about New England pirate lore. If you’re expecting exhibits and cool little pirate trinkets then you’ll be disappointed. However, a modest $ 8.00 for a pirate play is certainly worth it.
The staff was an interesting group and were all dressed up as pirates in full character. They walked us through the exhibits maintaining their best accents and presented an interesting story about pirates that included a ship named «The Squirrel» which is obviously awesome, pirate beheadings which was not so awesome and also about some badass chick that was New England’s last real pirate. It was a fun time but I think they could better serve their guests if they picked up and displayed some more museum-​like artifacts from New England’s pirate past. Maybe a sword or two? Some doubloons or booty? Either way, it’s worth checking out the New England Pirate Museum if you’re in Salem.

Everyone knows the story about the Salem witch trials, but you’ll be very surprised what you never knew about the pirates of New England. Their story is something you’ve probably never seen in movies or documentaries.
The staff here seems to love the place. My tour guide looked amazingly like Orlando Bloom, and was a talented actor as well.
If you’re unsure about visiting, stop by and take a look at the gift shop. It’s very cool.
I recommend going before Salem’s busy September/​October season. It seems like the actors get burnt out during this busy season.

Ugh, this «museum» is such a rip-​off, and tacky even for Salem. I went for a tour, and was definitely unimpressed. There were maybe six exhibits, and we had a giggling college kid giving us a tour that even he was not taking seriously. My group felt ripped off after we paid somewhat high ticket prices and got minimal historical information and almost no interaction with the tour guide.
The «exhibits» were poorly made. Basically, it’s a collection of pirate scenes that look like a 3^rd grade art class put together. Not even cool renditions– things your annoying neighbors construct themselves around Halloween every year to put in their yards. Poor quality.
The lack of any real knowledge was inexcusable. I could have learned the same stuff from reading the backs of a few postcards. The guide was clueless, and kept giggling to himself or trying to talk to co-​workers. No one’s questions were answered so people gave up asking. It’s not worth the price, and it’s a very short tour.
If you want to visit a real museum in Salem, please go to the Peabody Essex Museum. That place is awesome! Avoid this lame tourist trap.

This place is ridiculously silly at best, horribly terrible at worst. A tourist trap like no other in Salem, this is not worth visiting if you’re above the age of, say, 13. It’s a wax museum, sort of, but not really.
I actually went in expecting this to have a sincere focus on pirate history, considering it’s right by the wharves in the old port of Salem. It’s not. It’s just a series of jokes concluded with one final «gotcha» moment. There are museum-​like exhibits throughout but, instead of letting us just read the panels, we were led by a wannabe actor reciting from a script, full of puns and slapstick. If I had been able to just wander through on my own, it might have been different. The very end of the «tour» (more like a «ride» without a vehicle) actually has some exhibits that you can look at without your guide. We spent time actually reading them, trying to make our experience more enjoyable.
When we finally emerged, one of the employees actually made fun of us for spending so much time looking at them. Hey, I’d paid admission, and I sure as heck didn’t come just to hear their horrible, scripted jokes!
Start with low expectations, and bring the kids — clearly, that’s their intended audience. I suppose if I’d started out without the idea that this was a «real» museum, I’d have been less disappointed. For what it is (cheesy tourist trap for people who want to just turn off their brains), I suppose it’s good. The best compliment I can give? The enthusiasm of the in-​character guides seemed sincere, and it must take a lot of effort to sustain.