Screaming or howling in Litchfield County, Connecticut

My Aunt has owned a large piece of land, over a hundred acres, in northwest Connecticut for many years now. Her property is located in a state park that is mostly uninhabited and only frequented by backpackers. Her land is well off of any main roads, and we have to drive through a lot of forest to reach her house. She bought the land and remodeled the old house that was already built on it so that it was more livable, and going up to visit her has always been my favorite thing to do. I have been going yearly since I was a baby and have spent countless hours exploring the woods, creeks, and land around the house. We call it “the farm” although it is not a true agricultural or livestock farm. My Aunt does have rescue miniature horses, alpacas, donkeys, and back in the day there were ducks. The animals are on one part of the property where area has been cleared out for them to graze, get fat, and be happy. The rest of the farm is untouched woodlands. In the early 2000s she decided to install 12’ ft fencing around the property, although it only encloses about 80 acres of the land she owns. She explained to me that she could not stand the sounds of the coyotes howling right outside her window at night, and that she had some creepy encounters while living there. She did not go into the details of these at the time since I was a young child. She lives alone, so I understand why she wanted to feel a semblance of security in those deep woods. We are originally from the bayous of Louisiana, so being in this type of environment was new to all of us. Anyway, despite being initially unfamiliar with the land, I eventually learned to navigate the area very well as a child. I had a few favorite spots, and one was up a small foot hill in the deepest part of the woods. I would go up so often that eventually a small path was established in the brush, and I would bring my cousins with me to show them my little oasis. In 2008, when I was about 10 years old, I took a summer trip to my Aunts and brought my best friend Alex with me. She and I often took trips here together during our childhood and this was not her first time accompanying me to the farm. I remember that we were in the woods at my favorite spot, sitting together and listening to Katy Perry while playing Doodle Jump on our new iPod touches. This makes me laugh to remember, but we were just trying to enjoy some nature while getting our fill of new tech, I guess. We were there for a while enjoying ourselves and talking about random kid stuff when there was this shift in the air, almost like a suffocating stillness and silence settled upon the woods. I paused the music and looked to Alex, who was already staring at me with a concerned and worried expression on her face. We stayed still and silent for a minute, tilting our heads to listen to the woods and search out any of the familiar sounds that normally crescendoed day and night across the farm. There were no birds, no summer bugs, and the trees almost seemed to stand frozen in place, as if the light winds that normally rustled their leaves left us completely. It was a vulnerable, terrible feeling and I knew Alex felt it too. Then began the sound of footsteps coming from even deeper in the woods. It took a moment for me to determine what the sound was, but the distinct rhythm of weight being picked up and put down on leaves and brush was impossible not to notice. It was bipedal and heavy, and was coming up towards us from a steep slope down the side of the mountain/foothill. I remember thinking that it was impossible for a human to move so easily through that part of the woods, since it was very thick with growth, fallen branches, trees, and rocks, even making it hard for an agile small child to navigate, let alone a large adult. It felt as if the woods lay still in wait while these footsteps made their way swiftly up the steep incline towards us. “Do you hear that?” I asked Alex in a whisper. She nodded. “It sounds like footsteps…” I continued. She nodded again, looking like she was about to burst into tears. I took her hand and began running down the makeshift path with her, trying not to fall or let her lag behind me at all. We did not stop until we reached the house. I don’t think we told anyone that day, because we were just too shaken to even comprehend what might have been out there. The next day I asked Alex if she would go back out to the spot with me. She was very hesitant and first, but eventually agreed and said we could go look for signs of another human. We made our way back, nervous but determined to discover what had invaded our little sanctuary. When we reached the spot, I looked down towards the direction we had heard the footsteps. I think I even slid down a bit to investigate passible indentations in the brush and leaves. I did not go too far because I was about to lose my nerve, and I hadn’t noticed much anyway, so I quickly climbed back up to where Alex waited nervously for me. We decided that it must’ve been some sort of animal, or deer, despite every logical explanation indicating otherwise. I knew what deer sounded like, and that was not a deer, but I wanted to forget and have fun again. We took our iPods out and began the same ritual of relaxing and playing games while chatting about nonsense. It seemed that things were back in their natural order again, so we quickly forgot about the terrifying experience and let our naive childlike wonder take over. After a little while, the stillness returned, and it happened so quickly it felt as if the forest took a gasp and never exhaled. This time, the footsteps started almost immediately. They were louder, and coming from a different direction. The best way I can explain their location is that it was in a similar spot to the day before, but somewhat more to the right where the forest was very dark and the incline to reach us was less steep. I did not wait too long to run, but it was long enough to realize that the sound was faster, closer, and definitely not a deer or bear. It is not a super exciting story, but that is my first creepy experience in the woods. I have since had more, as I am an avid backpacker and love the outdoors. But the experiences on her land have always been the most bizarre and inexplicable. If anyone has any ideas about wtf this was, please comment or DM me! I think about it every time I am in any woods. It still sends chills up my spine to remember. I did not look into the woods too closely because I wanted to get the hell out of there and was too scared to see whatever it was. I knew it was close enough that it would be upon us any moment if we did not flee. So without a word, Alex and I took off and ran as fast as humanely possible out of those woods. Extra info: the area we were at is pretty far away from the main house and any other civilization. We asked my aunt if there were any men on the property and she said no, there were not. She also confirmed that the gates were in working order, although it wouldn’t be hard for a bear to breach them, or for a fox to dig underneath them.