Solution

The solution I came up with is: Seneca SP, Go by lake to rock at oak.

There is a Clopper Lake at Seneca Creek State Park in Md. Seneca Creek State Park borders the Pontomac river.

I used the first letter of the first word after the quotation marks starting on page 57. This gives me:

S
G
T
R
M
N
N
S
O
Y
T
H

Next, I used the names of people who were born on the 22nd of a month.

STEVEPERRY born 1/22/1949
GEORGEWASHINGTON born 2/22/1732
TONYMCPHEE born 3/22/1944
ROBERTOPPENHEIMER born 4/22/1904
MARYCASSETT born 5/22/1844
NICOLASIRKIS born 6/22/1959
NEILCAVUTO born 9/22/1958
STEVEKLINE born 8/22/1972
OLAVEBADENPOWELL born 2/22/1889
YVANPONTON born 10/22/1945
THOMASCOOK born 11/22/1808
HAWKSHAWHAWKINS born 12/22/1921

Reading down diagonally and then up you get: SENECA S P

_S_ TEVEPERRY
G_E_ ORGEWASHINGTON
TO_N_ YMCPHEE
ROB_E_RTOP_P_ ENHEIMER
MARY_CAS_SETT
NICOLASIRKIS
NEILCAVUTO
STEVEKLINE
OLAVEBADENPOWELL
YVANPONTON
THOMASCOOK
HAWKSHAWHAWKINS

The next line reads: GO BY LAKE

STEVEPERRY
_G_EORGEWASHINGTON
T_O_NYMCPHEE
RO_B_ERTOPPENHEIMER
MAR_Y_CASSETT
NICO_L_ASIRKIS
NEILC_A_VUTO
STEVE_K_LINE
OLAV_E_BADENPOWELL
YVANPONTON
THOMASCOOK
HAWKSHAWHAWKINS

The third line reads: TO ROCK AT OAK

STEVEPERRY
GEORGEWASHINGTON
_T_ONYMCPHEE
R_O_BERTOPPENHEIMER
MA_R_YCASSETT
NIC_O_LASIRKIS
NEIL_C_AVUTO
STEVE_K_LINE
OLAVEB_A_DENPOWELL
YVANPON_T_ON
THOMASCO_O_K_
HAWKSHAWH_A_WKINS

I have not searched the this area, however several bottles with pictures of a hand palm and parts of keys have been found. Here is the article:

www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A4415-2004Oct3

I'm sorry, but IMHO this "solution" is completely arbitrary.

(1) You started in the middle of the book, at some arbitrary location, then pick parts of the text to fit your names? You've simply pulled information out of the text that fits what you want it to reveal. What relevance does this hold for the entire book, the entire chapter, and the theme?

(2) The people you picked for having been born on the 22nd are also picked for the way they fit your idea, not because they innately reveal any patterns.

(3) Your selection of letters from these names follows a pattern until it stops giving you information, then it needs to be changed to get more information. If it were really revealing something valuable, it should not have to be changed, unless there were some good reason for it--and just to find letters that fit your supposed solution is not a good enough reason.

(4) Your "answer" involves a rock, by an oak, by a lake. Do you have any ideas how many rocks would likely be by how many oaks? That's sorta like saying "dig in the dirt, in some state."

Given any sufficient amount of input, patterns can always be found, especially if you allow yourself to jump around randomly to find them. This is not a solution I can believe.

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there is a seneca lake in ny as well...

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Hi all,

Shecrab-do you think that Clopper Lake is the wrong solution or do you just not like the process of how I got it?

Holidaze-I picked Md because "if a mason had stuck a line and dropped a plumb" on page 19, has always meant to me that the key was hidden south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Here is more information. Alfred G. Vanderbilt II, born Sep. 22,1912. Owner of the horse Discovery(the Iron Horse), who was the damsire to Native Dancer(the Grey Ghost). Native Dancer had a racing record of 22 races with 21 wins and 1 loss(to Dark Star in the Kentucky Derby). Native Dancer's offspring include Beachcomber and Hula Dancer. John Eisenberg is the author of Native Dancer: The Grey Ghost, Hero of a Golden Age. I am guessing he is also the author of The Whistle Pig.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_G._Vanderbilt_II
http://books.google.com/books?id=NGi...DL86nnuyWeDH1Y
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_(horse)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Dancer
http://www.answers.com/topic/native-dancer

"Duck Miller" is actually Dan Millender, not John Eisenberg.

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I'm not sure how partial you are to "Neil Cavuto", but "Nick Cave" would yield the same positions on the letters, and he fits in with the musician theme a little better. His birthday was 9/22/1957.

This is an interesting solution. If you find the key, would you consider leaving a substitute in its place for the next person to find?

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Shecrab - I know John Eisenburg. Should I ask him? I think it is very unlikely since he is a Texan in Maryland. I will see him this weekend. I will let him know of your regard...
I like this site too. Glad you got the Cal ref i sent. I got that when I was in Iraq. It was a good read an fun to think of something other than what was happening to me at the time.

Saw John Eisenberg this weekend. He was interested in the book, but he had never heard of the Whistle Pig... He and his wife thought that it would be a good share for their book club. I hope they read it too. Thanks for the post before...

I am glad that someone at least finds this solution interesting. Nick Cave could be correct.

I was not planning to go look for the key, since several bottles(line up the bottles, P. 53) have already been found. http://www.gazette.net/gazette_archi.../232429-1.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A4415-2004Oct3

It is interesting that a picture of a palm of a hand is attached to the skeleton key is in the bottles. The author had promised us the answer would be obvious like the W shaped palm trees in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World." So, is it possible instead of palm trees, he gave us palm keys?