On Horsell common

"Then came the night the first missile approached Earth; it was thought to be an ordinary falling star...some said it travelled with a hissing sound, and others said that it landed with a flash like summer lightning. But next day there was a huge crater in the middle of Horsell Common, and Ogilvy came to see what lay there...a cylinder, thirty yards across, glowing hot...and yet with faint sounds of movement coming from within! Suddenly the top began moving, rotating, unscrewing, and Ogilvy feared there was a man inside trying to escape; he rushed to the cylinder, but the intense heat stopped him before he could burn himself on the still-glowing metal..."

(From 'The War of the Worlds')