/diy/ - Do It Yourself

Why would someone wire a receptacle this way? Note: not linked to a switch and didn’t use a multimeter like a tard. Correcting the blacks and whites on a new receptacle has yielded a dead break. Prior to trying to fix this and two receptacles downstream were showing reverse polarity on a tester, the fourth receptacle ahead of this showed wiring was correct. I don’t just want to try and replicate this wiring, my replacement has things pigtailed and terminaled. I feel like this thing was a huge fire hazard (see one of the backstab terminals has sheared off wire sticking out).

Tester says reverse polarity along several adjacent boxes on the same circuit. Two appear normal but this one is all fucked and some goofball installed it this way. Two romex wires feed into the box and I assumed like a retard that I could just correct the wiring on a new receptacle. Now my circuit breaker automatically drips which tells me I have a dead short. Does anyone know what the rationale would be to wire a receptacle this way? Few steps from phoning a professional but want to understand wtf is happening.