Stories from old-timers about "Wood Devils" in the deep woods witnessed in Coos County, New Hampshire

My wife and I moved to Twin Mountain NH in Coos county in June 2022. She is from Texas yet I’m from up here. We were doing some hiking through the summer so she could see what our great state has to offer. We decided to go up to Arethusa falls on one of the days, in Crawford notch. What’s strange is most trails when leaving a point of interest descend, not ascend. Yet when leaving the falls a lady with her teen boys says to me this is the way back down. I was like, wait a minute, in my mind. Sure it seems natural to go that way (closer to the descending river or valley) but it wasn’t the way we came. So off they went and my wife and I after looking close started to ascend for maybe 50 feet before the trail heads downward. About halfway down we both heard an unimaginable creature screaming sound. It was long in duration. Sounded nothing like what a human could create. I’ve been in these woods since the 70’s and have heard fisher cats, moose, bear, bobcat, etc etc. Nothing came close to that sound. It was emanating from the valley or the opposite mountainside. I don’t know if that woman with her boys startled it (being that they weren’t on the actual trail) or if it was totally unrelated. I nor my wife believe in lying or making stuff up. Not sure I want to climb up there again after hearing that sound. It was deep and loud. It didn’t sound friendly either. I know there are plenty of skeptics yet how do you dismiss the Indians speaking of encounters also many other modern day people running into them. Woods devils I’m speaking of. Sure we didn’t see it with our eyes yet we know it was scary enough to stay clear of that area.