OK, sounds like this stuff is '50s vintage, and lacks a ground conductor; it wasn't just snipped off. I should "probably" add a GFCI where I tapped in, in all actuality. Granted, it's still an upgrade; this room has never been grounded. I also "need" GFCIs in the bathroom and kitchen. Kitchen is '90s? white stuff with blue Carlon boxes, code-wise would that need a GFCI or did that come about later? I know bathrooms had them by the '80s, I lived in a house built in '88 that had GFCI in the bathroom and in the garage but not the kitchen or outdoor outlets.