Sleep paralysis occurs either when falling asleep, or when awakening. When it occurs upon falling asleep, the person remains aware while the body shuts down for REM sleep, and it is called hypnagogic or predormital sleep paralysis. When it occurs upon awakening, the person becomes aware before the REM cycle is complete, and it is called hypnopompic or postdormital. The paralysis can last from several seconds to several minutes "by which the individual may experience panic symptoms". As the correlation with REM sleep suggests, the paralysis is not entirely complete; use of EOG traces shows that eye movement is still possible during such episodes.
In addition, the paralysis may be accompanied by terrifying hallucinations (hypnopompic or hypnagogic) and an acute sense of danger.[9] Sleep paralysis is particularly frightening to the individual because of the vividness of such hallucinations.[8] The hallucinatory element to sleep paralysis makes it even more likely that someone will interpret the experience as a dream, since completely fanciful or dream-like objects may appear in the room alongside one's normal vision. Some scientists have proposed this condition as an explanation for alien abductions and ghostly encounters.
(Entire article can be found here)
I'm always able to open my eyes and sometimes barely make a little noise. Luckily I have never experienced any hallucinations involving demons or aliens!
There's a lot of interesting folk lore surround sleep paralysis in different cultures, and some pretty awesome art depicting it too.I found this cool picture by Joncarling on Etsy that looks to me like a demon visiting a victim of paralysis:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/34431191/the-woman-and-the-visitor
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