In 1877 Victorian-era Spiritualists who believed in communication with the dead held a camp meeting on the shores of Onset Bay in Wareham, Massachusetts. The community they founded at Onset soon emerged as one of America’s leading centers of Spiritualism. 
   Subsequently buffeted by a series of scandals that exposed several of its mediums as frauds and facing an influx of tourists intent on recreation rather than religious revelation, Onset saw Spiritualist influence collapse after just two decades. 
   Spiritualist Onset: Talking with the Dead by the Sea is a fascinating exploration of this charming Victorian village’s unique origins and the rapid rise and controversial decline of Spiritualism in “the Spiritualists’ Summer Home by the Sea”.