David Nebenzahl wrote:

Well, OK, but I cannot believe that a DMM is going to pick up a false
reading of *59 volts*. 59 millivolts, sure, but the OP insists that his
meter is telling him there's 59 volts between each of hot & neutral and
ground. This cannot be due to stray induced voltage.

Why not? You've got the floating wire lying right next to a 120v line for 50
feet or whatever the distance to the panel is. The voltage will be some large
percentage of 120v. The current will be tiny (which is why DMM's show the
voltage and analog meters don't). -- Doug