My DD recently did something very similar - woke screaming and couldn't be settled in any of the usual ways. I tried BF (which is usually the instant calmer), bringing her into my bed, turning on lights, going out and turning on the telly - nothing stopped the screaming and I even took her pjs off to check inside for bities! It went on for about 5-10mins before she finally fell asleep in my arms. When I laid her down on my bed, she rolled over, woke up and blinked and looked at me with a huge smile like 'oh here I am in your bed mummy, how fun!' and started playing!
I put it down to a night terror as she really didn't seem to know what had happened. She has only done it once (touch wood) and she was sick with a cold at the time. If it was happening every night, I probably would try to get some answers from a professional, though I have read that saturating them in love during the day has helped some people so maybe some over the top cuddles and kisses and lots of mummy time could settle things down. Good luck.