I remember a scene where the main character was walking through a town that appeared deserted, and I think that he ran into another character who was crazy or something. There was a bad smell in the town and he eventually walked around and found a giant pit full of bodies because the townspeople had all died from disease, or a curse, or..

Something tells me this was a Terry Goodkind book, maybe Wizard's First Rule, but I don't have the book anymore to check...