Large black blemish on page and pasteboard

Question

I am using CS3, InDesign ver. 5
I have 100 page document (a type book, part of a 440 page book), with a large, 1 x 3 inch, solid black blemish (a double streak) that extends from the top of the paste board into the document by 1.5 inches on one page. Sometimes it disappears, sometimes it reappears. I exported the file to a PDF (high quality for print). It was not visible in the PDF, but it printed (CreateSpace digital book printing).
The blemish cannot be selected, moved, etc.
The file has four layers. The blemish is mostly associated with one layer. However, when I turn that layer or all layers off, only the portion of the blemish inside the text box disappears. The portion that extends beyond the text frame on the page and on the pasteboard remains.
The blemmish appeared during a sneezing fit (allergies) while I was working on the document. I touched or clicked something, but I have no idea what. 
I moved the text frame off the page and created a new, unlinked, frame. Most of the blemish moved with the original text frame (all that was inside the frame and part outside). I made a new frame and the blemish reappeared--now in two places: in its full size on the page, and most of it on the text frame on the pasteboard.
I deleted the page, created a new page, and created a new text frame. As I entered new text, the blemish reappeared.
I exported the file to Interchange Format. The blemish remained.
I deleted the InDesign Defaults and the Saved Data files. The blemish remained.
I can cover it with a frame filled with white: however, I have no idea if that will actually work when the book is printed. And if it does, I cannot remove that portion that covers the text.
Walton

Answer 1

waltonm wrote:
I've linked a copy of the problem page here It is a zip fold of the packaged indd file; therefore the fonts are included.
Walton.
I exported the file as IDML and also as RTF. Opening the IDML retained the blemish.
Placing the RTF into a new file also retained the blemish; even though the fonts were all marked as missing, the glyphs appeared in the applied fonts. One strange thing is that the DickChamberlainsDeathF font didn't display the missing font coloration, and in the font pull-down menu in the Control Panel, there were no square brackets around its name (the brackets indicate missing fonts.)
Anyone have a clue about this strangeness?
I exported the file as text. The shape was gone when the text file was placed into a new document.
Then, I reapplied the fonts to the text - the named font was applied to all paragraphs in the font's group. No character.
The default size was 12pt. I selected all the text in the frame and increased the font size to 15pt, and BINGO! It's BAAACK! It remained as I undid each action step by step.
I suspect that the blemish is triggered by a character in one of the fonts. It doesn't seem to go away when fonts are changed back to known-normal fonts. If these fonts are creations of non-major font foundries, or if they have been modified by a mad font scientist, then the problem is likely some miscalculation in displaying the font.
If you really want to track down the source of the problem, I'd suggest starting with a new file, set the default font to a known safe one, type new text samples for one set of glyphs, copy and paste the glyph set to make enough for your samples, then save that file, then save as a new name. In a copy, apply a suspect font to one glyph set. Save As a new name that indicates the applied font.
Open the first-saved file, save with the name of the second font you want to test. Then apply that font to the second set of glyphs. Save again.
Go through this routine until you've got a set of files that have all the glyph sets, but only one font applied in each file. If the blemish hasn't appeared, start back in the first file with an applied font. Select the text with the applied font and change the point size to 15pt. If that doesn't cause the problem, save the file as a new file with 15pt in the name.
Repeat this test for all files. If the blemish appears, then you'll have an idea of which font causes it.
If the blemish hasn't appeared, start over with the first file that has the first-applied font at 15pt. Save it to a new name. Select the second group of glyphs and apply the second font. Save. If no blemish, increase the font size of the second group of glyphs to 15pt. If no blemish, save, and repeat with all other files, aplying the n-th font to the n-th glyph group. Save to new names. Change font to 15pt. Etc.
If still no blemish, start over with the first file. Save to a new name. Apply each n-th font to each n-th glyph group, all in this one file. If this doesn't display the blemish, try the same strategy with the remaining files.
HTH
Regards,
Peter
Peter Gold
KnowHow ProServices