Okay, here's the story: The Hash House Harriers phenomenon began in 1938 with a British man named Albert Stephen Ignatius Gispert (known by his friends as "G") in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He gathered together a group of fellow Brits to play a variation of a game known as "Hares and Hounds", an English schoolboy's game. The group got its name from their hangout, The Selangor Club, which was commonly called the Hash House, an old slang term for a restaurant that served bad food. This was combined with harrier, a dog trained for rabbit hunting.
A.S.I. Gispert (1903-1942)
Royal Selangor Club
The Original "Hash House"
EERIE HASH HOUSE HARRIERS
A drinking club with a running problem.....
The philosophy of the original Hash House Harriers from the 1938 charter:
To promote physical fitness among our members
To get rid of weekend hangovers
To acquire a good thirst and to satisfy it in beer
To persuade the older members that they are not as old as they feel
The Original "Hash House," Kuala Lumpur, circa 1938
Hashing in Kuala Lumpur was suspended during the World War II occupation by Japanese forces, but then reestablished after peace returned. It wasn't long before the hash began slowly spreading around the world. Former members of the original Hash House Harriers started a hash in 1947 near Milan, Italy, but it wasn't until 1962 that the next group was formed in Singapore. The Singapore Hash was gradually followed by others until in 1973 there were approximately 35 hashes in 14 countries.
Subsequently, the hash began spreading like wildfire and the number of hashes soon climbed into the hundreds by the early 1980s. As of 1999 there were some 1,700 active hashes in over 180 countries, including approximately 350 in the United States.
