Brake light failure

Start at the beginning- turn in car no warning lights. Put in reverse I get brake light failure warning. My brake lights don't work but my driving lights do, it appears the problem has been ongoing and the driving lights get too hot and melt the housing. Also reverse turns on high beams and rear running lights along with fog light symbol in dash however I have no reverse lights. I just bought the car 3 days ago. Any advice? All the wiring looks sound I've traced it pretty far up. When I take out all the connectors to the lights and put it in reverse the only warning I get is the fog light symbol also, no warning like with the harnesses connected