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Flying fortresses departed to "roam" the Stratosphere from me, but I'm too small to host even a 727.

No one owns my tree, not even me.

I've induced far reaching hysteria and caused the most famous lucid dreams, but mostly only social wasps fear me.

I've hosted a man with sparks and ultramarine women.

What am I?

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  • $\begingroup$ Should this require particularly specific/unusual trivia-esque knowledge? Maybe add the knowledge tag? $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 10, 2017 at 9:07
  • $\begingroup$ @BrentHackers Pop/rock music, perhaps, for some of the references $\endgroup$
    – Hack-R
    Commented Jul 10, 2017 at 11:28

2 Answers 2

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Partial but fairly confident answer

I am pretty sure you are

Athens, Georgia.

Flying fortresses departed to "roam" the Stratosphere from me, but I'm too small to host even a 727.

The B-52s were formed in Athens, Georgia. The B-52 aircraft for which they are named is also called the Stratofortress. One of their songs is called Roam. Athens has a small airport with short runways; probably too short for a Boeing 727.

No one owns my tree, not even me.

Athens is home to The Tree That Owns Itself. In American law trees cannot literally own themselves.

I've induced far reaching hysteria and caused the most famous lucid dreams, but mostly only social wasps fear me.

Hysteria: Widespread Panic. Lucid dreams: Dreams So Real though R.E.M. seems kinda relevant too. The social wasps are probably something to do with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets -- this has been confirmed by OP, but if it's a reference to some particular match I haven't found it.

I've hosted a man with sparks and ultramarine women.

The man with sparks might be Mike "Phosphorescent" Houck ... OP says not, but I haven't found better candidates; there are bands called Pylon and Elf Power but those don't seem like improvements. The ultramarine women must be the Indigo Girls.

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  • 1
    $\begingroup$ still finding things -- no need to spoonfeed me yet :-) $\endgroup$
    – Gareth McCaughan
    Commented Jul 10, 2017 at 13:59
  • $\begingroup$ I don't think there's any way to spoilerize comments. You can always use something like ROT13 if need be. $\endgroup$
    – Gareth McCaughan
    Commented Jul 10, 2017 at 14:02
  • $\begingroup$ ... OK, I think I've spent as much time as I want to spend right now looking for Sparkly Man and Frightened Hornets :-); feel free to offer some hints for those if you like. (Unless my guess at sparky guy is correct, of course.) $\endgroup$
    – Gareth McCaughan
    Commented Jul 10, 2017 at 14:04
  • $\begingroup$ I would never have got this, so thanks for taking up the baton :-) $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 10, 2017 at 14:24
  • $\begingroup$ @GarethMcCaughan I see, thanks for the info on spoilierizing. Regarding the part that you wrote you're still missing you're correct about the social wasps and regarding the man with sparks it would be a musician from a different genre. Oh, and regarding the lucid dreams I was actually thinking of the 2nd possibility that you mentioned, though the first one you thought of seems to fit equally well. $\endgroup$
    – Hack-R
    Commented Jul 10, 2017 at 14:30
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Could you be

Hollywood?

Flying fortresses departed from me, but I'm too small to host even a 727.

Apparently there's a US film called Flying Fortress, but a Boeing 727 wouldn't fit into the studio.

No one owns my tree, not even me.

Perhaps a reference to the fact that "holly wood" sounds like a tree?

I've induced far reaching hysteria and caused the most famous lucid dreams, but mostly only social wasps fear me.

Presumably these are all film references. The "lucid dreams" thing must be Inception, but I'm not sure about the other two.

I've hosted a man that sparkles and ultramarine women.

Twilight vampires and Marvel's Mystique.

Edward Cullen Mystique

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  • $\begingroup$ Very interesting. This wasn't my intended answer but I am up voting. $\endgroup$
    – Hack-R
    Commented Jul 9, 2017 at 13:06
  • $\begingroup$ I made some tweaks to the wording of the riddle $\endgroup$
    – Hack-R
    Commented Jul 9, 2017 at 22:32

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