I had encountered that creationist whale fossil claim back around 1990. They provided a fair amount of detail and cited only one source from a trade journal, "Industrial Chemist". I found that source at a local university and it said nothing but that an entire whale fossil had been found near Lompoc and that it was in a layer of diatomaceous earth. Maybe there was mention of that layer being tilted, but certainly nothing about the fossil being vertically placed; I am remembering back about 24 years. Apparently the creationist source had been extremely inventive in creating this claim ex nihilo.
I got an update to that story through talkorigins.org (
A Whale of a Tale). That article also has a bibliography.