Screaming or howling in Shasta County, California

I was living in a pretty nice subdivision at the time. It wasn't overly remote, just a typical subdivision, it was located on a large green belt, and there was a lot of construction being done on expansion of the subdivision at the time. The area was primarily oak trees, and poisen oak, scrub brush, manzanita, etc. I was sitting shooting the bull with a friend outside on the curb. directly across the street a house was under construction. We had been talking for quite awhile, when we hear VERY frightening screams. They sounded similar to sounds I have heard on bigfoot recordings, and very much like nothing I had ever heard before, very loud, and very erie. I hadn't ever heard certain animals scream before, so I honestly don't have a base of comparison. We never left, we just sat there sort of freaked, because it WAS a subdivision (albeit at the end of a street) and because we didn't know what it was. I figured maybe a fox, because I had seen the fox in the area in the days preceeding, and day of the even, strangely, I never saw the fox after that night). I am skeptical about what it was that made the noise, I don't think it was the fox, although, I haven't heard them yelp. I haven't heard owls before, but never have seen them in the area. It did scare me, and I haven't forgotten it, even though it was about 8 years ago. An interesting side note, there was a dead kitten in my gutter in the morning, near where I sat, And another kitten limping nearby, I hadn't seen the kittens around prior to the day either. The noise best sounded like something in a horror movie to scare the crap out of you.