VMs running with no VMDK files on the datastore

What happened to my VMDKs?  :)  Don't you love questions that open like that?

This is all ESX 6.5

We had two hosts.  Host 1 had some VMs on it.  I used Veeam to move the VMs to a new host, then I used the Delete From Disk on the old host once the VMs were moved to the new host and confirmed as running.

Eight (count them, 8) days later, I notice in Veeam that the VMs I moved had Zero used space but lots of provisioned space.  So I looked some more and guess what, I have 5 VMs up and running, working perfectly, with NO VMDK files behind them.  There is no folder on the datastore, no VMDK file, nothing.  

I powered one off.

The VM name disappeared and was replaced with //vmfs/509g0t9e8f85040rldlgjt et al.

There is now no VM and no VMDK and no folder.  I'm certain when I used the Remove From Disk, my VMDK files were gone, yet somehow the VM is still running as a cached file.

So, is there anything I can do before I start the restore process?  Any way to "save" these VMs before I turn them off and then restore to this morning?

Thanks

:(