How do I get my Downloads files back on my Mac? I didn't lose the Downloads folder, just the files. When I clicked inside the folder, poof! Everything just disappeared, leaving nothing but an empty Downloads folder. They're not in Trash. When I do Command-R and load an older backup. Same thing! It shows me the files are there, but when I click to enter the folder, everything inside Downloads disappears, again. 

I've lost the Downloads folder itself a few times before and was always able to drag it back into the window. Now the problem has a new wrinkle. Dang it! Anybody have a solution?

$ ls ~
Desktop
Documents
Downloads
DownloadsTHAT'S THE WAY THE WIND BLOWS BY JOHN LATINI, YPSILANTI, MI
Dropbox
Library
Movies
Music
Pictures
Public
hewletts 2018.dvdcrtproj
iCloud Drive (Archive)

$ ls ~/Downloads
~$2018_ KATHYFORSTE.docx

Harrys-iMac:~ harryhewlett$ ls ~/Downloads
Downloads/
DownloadsTHAT'S THE WAY THE WIND BLOWS BY JOHN LATINI, YPSILANTI, MI/
Harrys-iMac:~ harryhewlett$ ls ~/Downloads
Downloads/
DownloadsTHAT'S THE WAY THE WIND BLOWS BY JOHN LATINI, YPSILANTI, MI/
Harrys-iMac:~ harryhewlett$ ls ~/Downloads

Harrys-iMac:~ harryhewlett$ ls -lF ~
total 0
drwx------@  4 harryhewlett  staff   128 Dec 20 06:39 Desktop/
drwx------@ 14 harryhewlett  staff   448 Feb  2  2018 Documents/
drwx------+  5 harryhewlett  staff   160 Dec 20 06:44 Downloads/
drwxr-xr-x   3 harryhewlett  staff    96 Dec  5 18:45 DownloadsTHAT'S THE WAY THE WIND BLOWS BY JOHN LATINI, YPSILANTI, MI/
drwx------@ 43 harryhewlett  staff  1376 Dec 20 06:43 Dropbox/
drwx------@ 71 harryhewlett  staff  2272 Dec 24 04:09 Library/
drwx------+ 12 harryhewlett  staff   384 Sep 15 16:12 Movies/
drwx------+ 10 harryhewlett  staff   320 Oct 19 12:39 Music/
drwx------+ 14 harryhewlett  staff   448 Nov  2 22:22 Pictures/
drwxr-xr-x+  5 harryhewlett  staff   160 Jun 29  2015 Public/
drwxr-xr-x@ 10 harryhewlett  staff   320 Jun 14  2018 hewletts 2018.dvdcrtproj/
drwxr-xr-x  21 harryhewlett  staff   672 Feb  2  2018 iCloud Drive (Archive)/
Harrys-iMac:~ harryhewlett$ 
Harrys-iMac:~ harryhewlett$ ls -lF ~/Downloads
total 8
-rw-r--r--@ 1 harryhewlett  staff  162 Oct 17 15:33 ~$2018_ KATHYFORSTE.docx
Harrys-iMac:~ harryhewlett$ 

Harrys-iMac:~ harryhewlett$ ls -l ~/Downloads*
/Users/harryhewlett/Downloads:
total 8
-rw-r--r--@ 1 harryhewlett  staff  162 Oct 17 15:33 ~$2018_ KATHYFORSTE.docx

/Users/harryhewlett/DownloadsTHAT'S THE WAY THE WIND BLOWS BY JOHN LATINI, YPSILANTI, MI:
Harrys-iMac:~ harryhewlett$
Open Terminal by pressing Command + Spacebar and typing terminal.

Press Enter.

Type cd ~/Downloads then press Enter.

Type open . then press Enter.