It’s no secret that Onset’s lively beachside scene has long attracted tourists and summer residents. However, the village was once best known as a place where the living gathered to speak with the dead.

In his latest book, author Michael Maddigan explores how Onset became a focal point for the Spiritualist movement, which started in 1848. A core tenet of the group is that communication with the dead is not only possible, but that anyone could do it through practice.

On Thursday, Maddigan signed and sold copies of the book, called “Spiritualist Onset: Talking with the Dead by the Sea,” at an event hosted by the Onset Bay Association.

Publishing “Spiritualist Onset” was a bid to resurrect interest in a movement that most people have forgotten.

“The Spiritualists aren’t really well known today. Back then, it wasn’t as strange a belief to hold that you could speak with the dead. The idea gave comfort to a lot of people, especially in the wake of the Civil War,” said Maddigan.

According to the book, Onset became a summer capital of sorts for the movement and events that happened there were reported to Spiritualists across the country.

In one passage, Maddigan writes about an incident that occurred on June 20, 1887. On that day, a 10-year-old boy drowned and efforts to locate the body were unsuccessful. Then a native woman arrived, fell into a trance, and “pointed to a previously unsearched site where she stated the body would be found. It was discovered at that site.”

News reports following the incident stated that the event, and similar ones, appeared to give credence to the movement.

The village’s Spiritualist heyday was relatively short lived. By the 1890s, more and more people unaffiliated with the movement discovered the town’s charms and moved in, diluting the movement’s influence locally, said Maddigan.

A Middleboro resident, Maddigan’s own interest in Onset dates back to summer vacations his family took in the village when he was a kid.

Through his publishing company, Recollecting Nemasket, Maddigan has published 11 books so far on the histories of Lakeville, Middleboro and other Southeastern Massachusetts towns in addition to Onset.

Kat Jones, Onset Bay Association president, said the book signing was meant to show that even though the tourists have packed up for the summer, the group still has a lot to offer residents.

“We wanted to showcase the work of a local author who has already written two books about Onset,” said Jones. “While it’s the off season right now that doesn’t mean we shut down for the winter. There’s not a lot going on, but this is a little something to keep people interested.”

Maddigan’s other Onset book, “Onset and Point Independence,” features historic postcards of the area sourced from public libraries and private collections. Published this summer, it too was signed and sold by Maddigan on Thursday.

Maddigan’s next book will explore the history of the Brockton Fair. All of his books are available for purchase online at: www.recollectingnemasket.com.