what is my turtle

Question
i live in north carolina and found a turtle in the yard.  He had a black shell with yellow dots, a little tail, inside his shell is orange, and when he goes in it closes a little.  He hissed at me one time and made me mad... But what is he????

Answer
I am sorry for the delay in answering- the person you wrote the letter to is no longer answering, so it got bounced around a bit.

You are describing a Spotted Turtle, a beautiful turtle that is getting rare in most of its range.

They are gentle little turtles, but they are easily scared by us 'giants', and they hiss when they pull their head in. It was about 1/2 trying to scare you off, and 1/2 trying to get its head protected from danger.