Replacing bathroom fixture for daughter in 1940 vintage house. Original
wiring to the outlet has the neutral stripped and purposefully connected
to the metal outlet box before extending on to connect to the fixture..
All wiring is 2 wire. I failed to notice if the wiring was run in metal
conduit, but it may be. I left it as is for the moment until I can get
back there with a meter and run some sanity checks. It seems to me that
when the light is on, touching the fixture and the water faucet a few
feet below would zap you. It has been this way for 60 years and there is
no reason to touch both, but it could happen.

I do not have an electrical reference that covers wiring practices of
that era, so I do not know if there was a reason for this or if it was
normal practice. I feel confident in working with home electrical
challenges on normal circuits, but this one unnerves me. Do any of you
electricians or old timers" know if this was normal for the era and
should it continue being connected that way with the new fixture?

SkyBlue