This is in a junction box in the attic floor. Note that the box is filled with blown cellulose insulation. No fire hazard there...
The romex leads down to a switch in the room below. The single wire out the top is the hot feed. The single wire out the left side becomes hot when the switch is on and leads to the light fixture; somewhere it catches a neutral back to the panel. I have no idea where that is - knob and tube is awesome...
The orange wire nuts cap the pigtails that lead nowhere. I have no idea why they are there.
Lastly, note that the romex's ground doesn't exist. Actually, it's that the installer cut it. I guess that's what you do when you don't need it, you just cut it off.
So the next guy in with a grounded switch and fixture needs to run new wire...
Grrrr...
Agreed, a new ground should be run per Per Article 250 of NEC.
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Thanks for the advice. And that's what I've already done - replaced this circuit's knob-and-tube with new NM-B wire (don't recall off the top of my head whether it was Romex brand or not) all the way back to the panel.
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