Martian tripod

Martian tripods were a mobile armaments from H. G. Wells' story The War of the Worlds with a powerful energy weapon that caused those irradiated by it to burst into flame. In the Land of Fiction, used them to kill off the Sisyphean Society, describing them to the 19th century villains as a "dark wonder of the next century". (COMIC: Character Assassin)

During the 1938 radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds, some Americans thought that Martians had really invaded Earth (AUDIO: Invaders from Mars) and saw water towers as Martian tripods. (PROSE: Elementary, My Dear Sheila)

Some accounts indicate that the inhabitants of Mars did use tripods. The Ice Warriors had "giant camera tripods" by the end of the 20th century (PROSE: The Dying Days) and the Martians used tripods in their 1894 invasion of Earth. (PROSE: Enter Wildthyme)