Persistent slug/URL

[doctorEQ]

I have been having problems getting posts to appear on a page titled blog. I finally got it working, but it's with a work-around that I don't know if it safe or correct or what. I also have this slug that I can't seem to get rid of.

Per another suggestion: I checked cPanel for redirects: none. I checked .htaccess for mention of "captivated-me" - none.

I am quite new at this. I am using WP 3.2, "Polished" theme from Elegant Themes, W3 Total Cache 0.9.2.3 (I clear all caches, including the browser's, after each step), WordPressSEO 0.4.2, on a Windows 7 x64 machine and have shared hosting using Linux/Apache. My URL is www.doctorEQ.com. Page with issues is "Blog" on the Nav bar.

Here's my update:

Posts working, but why do I have to enter permalink as “/http:/%postname%/” instead of “/%postname%/” ???

FAIL: WHY IS “captivated-me” SLUG BACK??? when we click “Blog” on the Nav Bar???

When I view the Blog page, posts appear, but the slug is back

HOW TO PURGE???

Otherwise, things are working and here is what I did…

Searched the server for “captivated-me” (the persistent slug)
Found: “captivated-me” folder (holding _index.html and a _index.html.gzip files)
Path: /public_html/wp-content/w3tc/pgcache (w3tc = W3 Total Cache)

Executed Plan:
1-deleted posts, emptied trash
2-delete page “Blog”, emptied trash
3-Went to W3 Total cache’s Page Cache and pressed “empty cache”
4-W3TC: went to General and clicked “empty all caches” (probably redundant)
5-searched for “captivated me” after clearing page and posts
6-NO SUCH FOLDER!!! YAY!
7-Create page called Blog
8-in WP under Settings>reading: select “Blog” for posts
9-create three posts
10-tested – works – but wait…I have to change permalink back to “/%postname%/”
11-repeat 1-4
12-reset permalinks to my preference ”/%postname%/”
13-repeat steps 7-10
14-test – failed - no posts displayed
15-reset permalink to “/http:/%postname%/”, cleared all caches
16-works….but why? Is it OK to enter the permalink that way?
17-Is there a way to purge the “captivated-me” ?

Oh, great. Home is gone. Now instead of www.doctoreq.com, I am getting a post slug attached: www.doctoreq.com/http:/third-test-posttesting-testing

I guess I'll delete all posts, the Blog and Home pages, the W3TC plugin and start over.

[doctorEQ]

RESOLVED - UPDATE:

The remedy was to have my hosting service delete, eradicate, and otherwise dispose of some "redirects" that were in my WP Database. I have learned that I can access this database (or databases) through phpmyadmin in cPanel as well as some redirect section in Wordpress.

I had not made any redirect settings yet (not intentionally, anyway - maybe it was a plug-in like Joost's WP SEO or the W3TC) and figured I would learn about these useful issues later.

For backup, I am still looking for another WP forum that has active and informed members - hope to increase my odds of a good resolution. I invite any recommendations.

The current question I am working on:

Where are redirects edited in WP?

Be well,

doctorEQ