Broken trees in Pocahontas County, West Virginia

In June I was backpacking the Allegheny Trail going south bound. I had hiked up the trail following the yellow blazes. As I got to the top and started the trek along the ridge line I noticed some of the blazes getting harder to find with what looked like attempts to scratch them off. I say this because I would find the paint chips and bark at the base of the trees. It was raining on and off with a strong wind blowing West/Northwest. The trail had quit a few blow-downs and up-roots but I also would come across smaller trees broken off or up-root laying across the trail opposite the wind direction. I was hiking toward a shelter along the trail using my map book and came upon it late in the afternoon. The following morning I was awoken by a loud noise nearby. At first I could not identity the sound but then I realized it was to Flat Creek, stones being "clacked" together. The sound would at first be close by and then a few seconds later would be repeated farther away until it was almost out of ear shot and then it would return getting louder and louder passing by and diminishing in the other direction. It was in a north to south direction back and forth several times and then it stopped. Soon after that I felt and heard movement on the outside of the shelter and something stepped heavily on an old plastic tarp that was left spread out along the side of the shelter at that point I yelled " get out of here" and I did not hear any thing more. It was very unnerving.