555 timer

Run a 1 K resistor between pin 7 and 8. There is nothing to charge the cap up the way you currently have it wired. Also, it wouldn't hurt to have a .1 uF cap between pin 1 and 8 for power supply decoupling. Pin 5 should probably have a .1 uF to ground.
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Edit:
I just noticed a black wire that terminates somewhere under your 4.7k resistor. What is this doing here? Where does it go? I'm not sure it belongs there.

 

I'm not sure where you have the pot wired to. Is it to pin 6 or 7? It should be wired to pin Not sure what you have the 10k pot set at, but typically when a 555 is wired astable and you want a duty cycle close to 50%, a resistor is put between pin 7 and the positive supply rail. The size of this resistor should be quite alot smaller than the main resistor that goes between pin 7 and 6. (Like 10 times less) However, you need to be careful that you don't get the resistor so small that too much current flows through it into pin 7. Pin 7 is grounded via a transistor inside when the output of the 555 is low. So naturally, to small of a resistance will cause excessive current to flow into pin 7. I wired a 555 a couple of nights ago very similarly to the way you have it wired. I wanted about 300 hertz out of mine, but that is irrelevant. It should work the same. Can you verify what the voltages are doing on some of the pins? Do you have a digital voltmeter?

 

You are correct, it does not look right. I'd pull out the IC and measure again.

 

You obviously have a problem with the breadboard, have something wired wrong or made a mistake in your measurements. Pin 2 and pin 6 should have the exact same voltage since they are tied together with a wire and they definately are different.

 

Why can't you just slide the IC down to a new part of the board and rewire? At least temporarily. Give you some confidence wouldn't it? Seems like you're tired of having this thing kick your arse.

 

Glad to have helped. I remember back on my first job doing electronic troubleshooting I made a comment to my trainer on the second day of work: "Things are sometimes not what they seem." He replied: "Things are NEVER as they seem." I will always remember that comment. In this case would you have expected to have a faulty wire/socket? You were most likely expecting that is was a mis-wire or faulty IC.