The Monolith Monsters is a 1957 American black-and-white science fiction film from Universal-International, produced by Howard Christie, directed by John Sherwood, and starring Grant Williams and Lola Albright. The film is based on a story by Jack Arnold and Robert M. Fresco, with a screenplay by Fresco and Norman Jolley. The Monolith Monsters tells the story of a large meteorite that crashes in a Southern California desert and explodes into hundreds of black fragments which have strange properties. When those fragments are exposed to water, they grow extremely large and tall. The fragments also begin to cause some of the inhabitants of a nearby small town to petrify. The unfolding story becomes one of human survival against an encroaching unnatural disaster that, if not stopped, could become an ecological nightmare, and pose a threat to all of humanity. Plot In the desert outside of San Angelo, California, a meteorite crashes, scattering hundreds of black fragments. The next day, Federal geologist Ben Gilbert brings one of the fragments to his office. He and local newspaper publisher Martin Cochrane examine it. That night, a strong wind blows over a full water container onto the black rock, starting a chemical reaction. Dave Miller, the head of San Angelo's district geological office, returns from a business trip and finds Ben's corpse in a rock-hard, petrified state and the office's lab damaged by rock fragments. Dave's girlfriend, teacher Cathy Barrett, takes her students on a desert field trip; young Ginny Simpson pockets a piece of the black meteorite rock, later washing it in a tub outside her family's farmhouse. In town Dr. E. J. Reynolds performs Ben's autopsy and cannot explain the body's condition; he sends the body to a specialist. Martin returns to the wrecked office with Dave, where he recognizes the fragments as the same type of black rock Ben had been examining. Cathy joins them, also recognizing the fragments. They go to the Simpson farm, which they find in ruins under a pile of black rocks. Ginny's parents are dead, and Ginny is in a catatonic state. At Dr. Reynolds' request, they rush her to Dr. Steve Hendricks at the California Medical Research Institute in Los Angeles. He reports that Ginny is turning to stone. Dave brings a fragment to his old college professor, Arthur Flanders, who determines that it came from a meteorite. Back at the Simpson farm, both men notice