[Diana in Wisconsin]

They are horrible, disgusting, destructive critters. I always keep a pair of sharp scissors handy; there's something wickedly delicious about cutting them in half as they're destroying your tomato plants!

However, they turn into the beautiful, night feeding Five-Spotted Hawk Moth which can sometimes grow as big as a Hummingbird:

[Paul R.]

Hornworms make excellent fishing bait. (Heck, with the stuff I’ve used for bait, touching a hornworm is pretty mild on the “repulsive” scale...) :-)