In older English, to “give up the ghost” simply means to die; the ghost is the spirit leaving the body, and nothing in the phrase has to do with haunting. Acts 5 uses it twice. Ananias “fell down, and gave up the ghost,” and then his wife “yielded up the ghost.” Both times the passage ends with the same effect on bystanders: “great fear came on all them that heard these things.” The same old word is why the KJV says Holy Ghost where newer translations say Holy Spirit. The whole story is in Acts 5, beginning at the first verse.
3 verses
And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.
Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Matthew George Easton, 1897
An old Saxon word equivalent to soul or spirit. It is the translation of the Hebrew nephesh_ and the Greek _pneuma, both meaning “breath,” “life,” “spirit,” the “living principle” (Job 11:20; Jer. 15:9; Matt. 27:50; John 19:30). The expression “to give up the ghost” means to die (Lam. 1:19; Gen. 25:17; 35:29; 49:33; Job 3:11). (See HOLY GHOST.)