For years there have been rumours of a huge tiger in the forests near a small village in Russia’s Far East. Known as the Amber Widow, she’s estimated to be the largest known Siberian Tiger, but it’s hard to know.
Only a couple of photos are known to exist and two websites, one which contains information to book a permit and travel to her territory, which is almost completely on private land owned by Nikolai Korasinski. The other website was set up a year ago and streams a live video feed from the territory.
Every year, 20-30 people make the journey to her territory. Some only hope to catch a glimpse of her, but most are hunters looking for a challenge. At most, 4 return from their trip having never seen her. Those who don’t return were never found or accounted for until 2 years ago.
A group of three hunters from Granmouth, WI went looking for the Amber Widow. No one is sure if they were hunters or just wanting a glimpse of her. Either way, they did not return home when expected and, the following month, a second group from Granmouth headed to Russia to search for them. They found the bodies in a cave, two near the entrance and the third in a chamber further in.
Autopsy concluded that, although they had been drained of blood, the lack of external injuries suggested death from hypothermia. Not satisfied with the answers, the same group returned to Russia a few months later, determined to find the truth of the legend.
A photo was posted to social media showing the group with a large tiger they claimed to be the Amber Widow, yet they never returned and numerous search teams have never found remains. Experts studied the new photo and estimated the tiger to be a length of almost 12 feet nose to tail, though they were uncertain as to whether it was male or female.
To this day, the website offering permits and travel to the village remains active. Some claim the latest photo to be fake and that no tiger exists in that area. Others say there may well be a tiger in the area, the size exaggerated by Korasinski and the villagers as a money-making scheme. The only part that anyone knows for certain is that hundreds of people have disappeared without a trace in that area while attempting to verify the existence of the Amber Widow.
The live stream was also active until recently and had a number of fans watching day and night for a glimpse of the Amber Widow. Two months ago, two figures were seen running towards the camera before it was knocked out of position, leaving it pointing at a large paw print on the ground. Shortly after, voices were heard and the feed was abruptly cut off. The website remains active and the two people seen running towards the camera have never been identified.
**UPDATE (16 June 2020)**[]
The live stream suddenly started again in April. The website hosting the feed has no explanation as to why the video cut off so abruptly or why it is back. Fans were quick to resume watching the stream. 2 weeks ago, their long wait was rewarded when a large tiger was filmed for around 8 minutes. Screenshots have enabled experts to more accurately gauge the size of the tiger at 19 feet, excluding the tail. Since its first appearence on the video feed, the tiger has been seen on a daily basis by feed watchers. There have also been reports of the tiger being seen with a second, smaller tiger, leading to speculation that watchers may see mating behaviour.
On forums dedicated to the Amber Widow, the fates of those who disappeared while in the territory of the Amber Widow have been highlighted by claims made by the Chinese government that Nikolai Korasinski, who owns most of the land covered by her territory, knows more than he says. Some have dismissed this as mud slinging given that a Chinese scientific research team disappeared without a trace while they were tracking the Amber Widow in January 2020. Others have pointed to claims from people who have returned from hunting for the Amber Widow that they abandoned their trip after first meeting Korasinski due to not feeling comfprtable in his presence. There have been claims of him offering to lead parties of hunters to where they will find the tiger they seek.