I pulled the flasher, put in a few flasher fuse, then the second the flasher comes into contact with its socket, its starts buzzing, and if I leave it in long enough (2 seconds) the fuse pops. I also don't have brake lights when the flasher is out so either the flasher is really f***ed up, or some line is crossed over somewhere that I have no idea where to start looking which still leaves the slight possibility that one of my mounting screws pierced a couple wires.
BTW tony, I disconnected the neons and nothing changed.