Hidden folders and files.  Why? and how can I unhide them?

I have a file folder that is suddenly hidden from Finder. It was fine last week and the previous year or two that I have accessed that folder. I can still find and open it using Spotlight, and I see the correct path displayed, but when I navigate that path in Finder, the files/folders are not visible.
Why is it hiding? None of the discussions I've read about hidden files helped explain or solve the issue. It happened with an Excel spreadsheet file a few months ago, and I was able to unhide that one with the "Hidden Files" widget. Do I really need to venture into Terminal?
I'm on an iMac G5 with OSX 10.4.11.

[What Should Be Invisible Isn't|http://www.pinkmutant.com/articles/toovisible.html]
[Invisible Finder 2.1|http://www.versiontracker.com/php/dlpage.php?id=9867&db=mac&pid=7198&kind=& lnk=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ragedownload.com%2Finvisfinder.sit] lists just invisible files. JuhOS X lists all files and flags invisible ones. Some applications let you toggle invisibility, though this doesn't take effect until you restart the Finder.
The other thing to do is verify your drive with Disk Utility. Your computer isn't likely to be suddenly deciding to hide files, but aberrant behavior could be an indicator of a corrupt drive.

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