diff --git a/main.c b/main.c
index 91ea3d0..7ca4229 100644
--- a/main.c
+++ b/main.c
@@ -4555,6 +4555,8 @@ ovl_rename_direct (fuse_req_t req, fuse_ino_t parent, const char *name,
       ret = create_whiteout (lo, pnode, name, false, true);
       if (ret < 0)
         goto error;
+
+      pnode->loaded = 0;
     }
 
   if (delete_whiteout (lo, destfd, NULL, newname) < 0)
diff --git a/tests/fedora-installs.sh b/tests/fedora-installs.sh
index eaf7d93..e0c9052 100755
--- a/tests/fedora-installs.sh
+++ b/tests/fedora-installs.sh
@@ -211,3 +211,20 @@ touch merged/a merged/b
 chmod 6 merged/a
 mv merged/a merged/x
 mv merged/b merged/a
+
+# https://github.com/containers/fuse-overlayfs/issues/279
+umount -l merged
+
+rm -rf lower upper workdir merged
+mkdir lower upper workdir merged
+mkdir lower/test
+touch lower/test/a.txt
+
+fuse-overlayfs -o lowerdir=lower,upperdir=upper,workdir=workdir merged
+
+(cd merged/test; touch a.txt; mv a.txt a2.txt; touch a3.txt; ln -s a3.txt a.txt)
+
+if test -e upperdir/test/.wh.a.txt; then
+   echo "whiteout file still exists" >&2
+   exit 1
+fi