How Do I fix a ghost / phantom page

Does this sound like you?

This page should not exist. I deleted it a long time ago, but it still shows up publicly. It doesn't show up in the backend.

Why is it showing up if it's been deleted? How do I fix it? How do I avoid this happening again?

Why does this happen?

A ghost/phantom page (a page that still exists if you go to it directly with the URL) exists because that page was deleted without unpublishing it. 

This may also happen if you move a page, though this is rare.

How do I fix this or avoid it?

AVOID! Please unpublish your page before deleting it.

FIX:

1. Create a fake page with the exact same title (URL) as the page before the move.
2. Publish the fake page.
3. Unpublish the fake page.
4. Delete the fake page.
5. Issue fixed.

Page created: 6/30/21